It's simply remarkable how much Michael Hui's films rest in such a carefree, playful space of seemingly spontaneous comedic arrangements and general absurdist hijinks, and yet resting beneath this veneer his films often carry rather pointed commentaries about the social milieu of the average Hong Konger, where life is a constant struggle under the forces of transnationalism and western hegemony. With The Private Eyes, Hui's film takes on a relatively plotless structure, as the film oscillates from comedic set-piece to comedic set-piece, with its thematic framework largely pinned down by a simple conceit - survival. Revolving around a recently fired day laborer who manages to find work for a lowly Private Detective - who largely hires the young man due to his skills in Martial Arts - The Private Eyes deploys the martial arts trope with maximum utility, delivering some highly memorable set-pieces which also serve as a quasi-subtextual commentary on the somewhat insidious expectations of viewers when it comes to what Hong Kong Cinema is, and isn't. Worker exploitation is a subtextual theme throughout, and the notion of competition instead of cooperation being textually relevant - particularly in the film's final few scenes, yet as mentioned above, Hui's films are never polemic, offering a welcoming embrace, yet for those who are looking beneath the surface, his films say a lot more about transnationalism, culture, and political economy than he seems to get credit for. If I had one critique, it would be that the film doesn't have the sense of comedic escalation that his masterpiece 'The Contract' manages to attain. The Private Eyes has tons of memorable moments but it doesn't build in the same way. That said, The Private Eyes remains one of Hui's best films I've seen to-date, being undeniably fun, and pulsating with creativity and an infectious charm from beginning-to-end
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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