My Schoolmate, The Barbarian (2001)Well-off schoolboy Edward (Stephen Fung) is headed towards straight As on his HKCEE (*) results when his ex-girlfriend throws a spanner in the works. When she sets him up for pushing her off a ledge at school, Edward's booted out of school with only a couple of months left before the critical exams. A mix-up sends him off to enroll at TBS Memorial School -- a Band Five school at the bottom of Hong Kong's education barrel. Students at TBS are so fierce that even the triads dare not recruit in its schoolyard, and Edward's set to have a mighty hard time trying to learn there. Pulped on his first day by resident bully Big Mouth, Edward starts learning the ropes from former school fighting champ Stone (Nicolas Tse) and classmate Phoenix (Joey Yung), who has the hots for him. But as soon as things are looking up for Edward and his new friends, a local gang boss catches wind of the school's wealthy new student and intervenes with kidnapping plans. The topic of schools assigned to specific levels, or bands, of students is quick paid lip service at the end of My Schoolmate, the Barbarian. But that's hardly the emphasis of the film -- upbeat teamwork laced with Tony Ching Siu-tung's stylish action work catches the most attention. TBS proves a grim urban set with a novel staging area for fights, where contestants duke it out on the desktops under spinning blood-spattered ceiling fans. Dull lighting, fuzzy wide angle shots, grainy film stock and washed out tones add a cheap-and-dirty feel during school scenes and ably pump up the sense of menace when needed. Wong Jing's love of video games also enters the picture, flinging in their influences to charge up some of the most entertaining action work this year. The entire production is carried in a rough and ready manner, occasionally diverting in classic Wong Jing style to cover odd skits in dreams or parody -- the most timely is a spoof of current TV ratings winner Who Want to be a Millionaire? as a revision aid. Leads Stephen Fung and Nicolas Tse put in distinctive roles and carry their sweaty proceedings nicely up to a cheesy exam hall payoff. Joey Yung's character seems thrown in, along with Missy Hyperbitch playing her gal pal Pork Chop, to keep the film from being an hour and a half of boys brawling. Yung doesn't look like she's appearing on account of her acting skills, which are enthusiastic but otherwise remarkably poor. * HKCEE is roughly equivalent to the GCSE in the UK, Junior Certificate in Australia and perhaps finishing junior high in the US. |
Credits: Directed by Wong Jing |
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