Asian Film Review: 'Once a Gangster' (飛沙風中轉) 2010

With a bit of help from Sean Tierney, last night I went to see the premiere screening of 'Once a Gangster (飛沙風中轉),  a gangster themed comedy starring Ekin Cheng and Jordan Chan written and directed by Felix Chong.  Yes, that's right, the two main characters from the popular Young and Dangerous series of films along with the screenwriter for the Infernal Affairs films are participating in a parody of gangster films... I think that officially means that they're not going to do another sequel.

In telling the story of the succession from one boss to a new boss within a triad society, this film parodies a lot more than just 'Young and Dangerous',  it also includes a bit of 'Election', 'Infernal Affairs' and probably a bunch of other references that passed me by.   

The comedy comes in in that neither of the two heir apparents who must compete for the job actually want it.  So they go through a lot of shenanigans to try and avoid winning the job without anyone knowing.

The film also features supporting performances by Alex Fong (the actor, not the singer) as the outgoing boss,  Conroy Chan as the third contender for the title and our pals Phat Chan, JBS and Kit from 24Herbs as members of Ekin's Gang.

The film is definitely not going to win any awards for acting or direction,  but it pretty entertaining.   Be forewarned that the English subs leave a bit to be desired and its a bit hard to follow the dialogue at some points....  but some of the scenes and performances (especially those parodying Infernal Affairs) are pretty funny if you're a genre fan. I only probably caught about half of the parodies but I enjoyed it quite a lot. 

Conroy Chan specifically is entertaining as less than sharp wannabe gang leader. The ending has a nice twist or two to keep you happy at the end of the film.

I give it a 6/10.  

Note - one bonus for me watching this was the fact that I recognized like 1/2 the locations they filmed at.  Cyberport, Bridges Street,  Taipo, Shatin.  :-P