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Film Review: Man on the Brink (1981) by Alex Cheung

Man on the
Machetes in newspapers and ramshackle dwellings abound as Ah Chiu decends into his own personal hell.

” is probably the best known of the undercover policeman subgenre, yet go back in 1981, was also exploring the psychological trauma of undercover work in his award winning follow up to “” that would kick start this very theme. Somewhat lost in cinematic history with a very short filmography, his initial output at the formative beginnings of the new wave saw a director of promise that sadly never got to blossom into a more lengthier career. Indeed trying to find a trailer for this review was a fruitless task, which only emphasizes how forgotten these works have become.

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Ah Chiu () has never really settled down until joining the police. Identified as a suitable candidate for undercover work, he jumps at the opportunity seeing it as excitement. Unable to tell his partner or family, he slowly finds himself alienated from them as he goes deeper into triad life. As he struggles to separate the two parts of his life, choices are made that lead him in a fight to retain his identity. The only trouble is that he no longer is aware of who that is.

Eddie Chan gets a part to really sink his teeth into. From the outset, his Ah Chiu is a bit of a drifter., never settling down until joining the police. Convinced to go undercover, it is of no surprise to his family that he has seemingly “quit”. What makes his character different from all the others that would follow is his initial perception of his task. He sees it as an exciting game and doesn't seem to take it seriously. Whilst often the undercover policeman becomes lost in the duality of the “part” they are playing, we never quite get this here. Ah Chiu succumbs to his demons through his own circumstances and choices rather than conflicting loyalties. Gradually, he becomes more battered and scarred on the surface and slowly his personality does too. Initially a non drinker or smoker he becomes addicted to gambling and starts to embrace that darker side. It makes you question who is the true Ah Chiu as his family don't seem so surprised. His efforts to keep his relationship with his girlfriend falter and ultimately collapse through the torn duties. His despair leading to choices that will lead to his destruction.

The inherent danger is clear from the beginning as the inspector explains why people are chosen. They have no ties, which in turn means they have no life outside the one they create for themselves. When we first see Ah Chiu as a policeman, he lets an elderly street hawker go, to the disdain of his sergeant. Later on, when he is arrested and freed by the inspector but taunts the same sergeant behind the inspectors back. It's the same immaturity from earlier but now taking a bleaker turn. We later learn the inspector is prepared to let one of the gang members be killed to provide cover for his insurgent, demonstrating that their lives are constantly in the hands of others.

Stylistically, “” follows on from “Cops and Robbers” by frequent use of hand held camera work to give it a sense of immediacy and chaos. The shootouts and chases feel vivid and are interspersed with slow motion. It's a deglamorised world that is shown to us. This is triad foot soldier level with the feel of a Yakuza feature. Machetes in newspapers and ramshackle dwellings are abound as Ah Chiu descends into his own personal hell. The finale in an apartment complex is both compelling and claustrophobic. It reminded me of the later “” in the setting. Its confined space add in to the sense of doom for their protagonists. For the most part it retains a consistency of tone. Only faltering for a rather jarring comical sequence in one chase sequence that feels rather out of place and an almost music video like montage towards the end do not match the rest of the film's visual aesthetic.

Dramatically, the pace is mostly steady with the occasional spurt of action. Despite these scenes, it remains mainly a character study. Supporting Eddie Chan's excellent performance are Lun Chia as the pragmatic inspector and Kam Hing-yin as a more experienced undercover hoping to escape and be a proper policeman again. Also look out for an earlier almost unrecognizable appearance from .

Alex Cheung won the Golden Horse award for best director for his work here and deservedly. Eddie Chen won Best Actor. It's a movie that essentially straddles two eras. It has that late 1970's vibe of gritty realism (montage sequence notwithstanding) and was the precedent for the more flashier police dramas that were to follow in its footprints. Time has inevitably erased some of the freshness, with countless productions turning innovation into standard cliche. What a lot of them lack, however, is a focal point on character. Those that followed would concentrate on the theme of duality more and the mirroring of police and criminal. Here we get a more studied portrait of a man capable of good and bad within himself. It makes for a compelling feature and worth discovering one of Hong Kong's lost talents.

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