By Jack Ford
It is the boy-meets-girl love story that has been around for centuries, but where both the male and female leads are hired killers. This is the premise of one of the early films by one of the biggest stars of Hong Kong, Andy Lau, “A Taste of Killing and Romance” – a film that delivers on its two title promises in equal measure.
Buy This Title
The boy is Ko Sao (Lau), a renowned hitman but wistful and thoughtful in his nature. He understands that death is always close, so much so he had already had his own tombstone made. It is obvious he is longing for something more fulfilling in his life: after he receives his first payment for killing, he remarks “Money is only one of my needs”. We then meet the girl, Yu-Feng (Anita Yuen). On first impression, she seems unassuming enough but that image allows her to go about her business without ever being questioned. Within a few minutes of being introduced, she slits the throat of a banker while he sits at his desk. Fleeing from the murder scene, she hijacks Ko Sao in his car, holds a gun to his side and tells him to drive – an order Ko Sao carries out without questioning.
After this first meeting, their paths keep crossing and a sweet chemistry starts to form between them. They do not know how similar their lives are when they first meet, but they sense a kinship. Each admits to feeling lonely, which the other sympathises with, as the life of an assassin is one spend alone. After so much time spent in enforced solitude, a sort of youthful innocence awakens in both of these killers-for-hire.
That is the romance aspect of the title, but there’s just as much on the killing front as well. Both Ko Sao and Yu-Feng work for an organisation of killers who operate out of an art gallery. So there is regular action both from those who get assignments from there and the police task force out to shut it down. These cops are lesser characters and are used mainly to drive the plot and keep a sense of morality in this world of people who kill for a living.
Many bullets fly in the film with most of the action coming in the form of shootings, but director-producer Veronica Chan also includes some unique, inventive and memorable deaths. These include a witness in a trial killed by a hitman posing as the judge and an old woman suffocated with cling film in sight of her dog, who ends up in the tumble-dryer.
Much of the deaths in “A Taste of Killing and Romance” come at the hand of fellow assassin Wong Cheong (Mark Cheung). Unlike his contemporaries, he has no conscience over taking lives and seems to take pleasure in the act. At one point, he tortures a cop for information, then kills her before getting the answers he wants. He is in a similar and opposite situation to the couple in that he is out to catch the eye of his superior, Ice (Christine Ng), but his repeated efforts get him nowhere. “I’m jealous of you both,” he remarks at one point to Ko Sao and Yu-Feng of their relationship.
As the story develops, the screenplay by Cheuk Bing seems to be posing a hypothesis: can love triumph over money, or even death? As their relationship grows, Ko Sao and Yu-Feng contemplate running away together, even though there are obstacles in the way of that. The money they both make from killing is enough to make the lifestyle attractive, but more serious than that would be the repercussions should they try to leave their old lives behind. Would their bond survive having to be on the run forever?
That hypothesis starts to play out when Ko Sao, after a hit does not go as planned, becomes a target. He decides he wants out of being a hitman, but in order to do so, he and Yu-Feng have to navigate attempts on their lives from people both in the assassins’ group and the police. The more they come after them, the more the tension builds. Unfortunately, it builds to a somewhat mundane conclusion, but Chan keeps the energy high and all the different elements balanced and well-paced through to the end.
As well as the filmmaking, the relationship between Lau and Yuen holds our attention throughout. The chemistry between them is endearing and realistic as they achieve something that so many film couples cannot convey: a convincing relationship that the audience wants to survive the rigours of the story. This, along with plenty of entertaining, well-crafted action, makes “A Taste of Killing and Romance” a fast-paced, affecting and hugely satisfying film for fans who enjoy seeing both on screen.
