Life Without Principle (Johnnie To)

[Rowland]

IMDb

[Rowland]

A broad but very funny satire that proves less successful when it strives for pathos, but even those moments are tinged with To's scabrous wit. The narrative sometimes seems overly convoluted for its own good, but this very To-like elliptical approach also effectively obscures some of its hackier network-narrative leanings. And as usual, it's beautifully made.

[Li Lili]

Saw it months ago. Not his best ones, it's quite average actually. So, I hesitated how to vote, finally decided "nay" as he directed much better films.

[soitgoes...]

I'm actually a big fan of his one. The first two story arcs were great, the last one not so much, but overall it's one of his better efforts in the last five years.

[B-side]

Really good film. Possibly great. I gave it four stars anyway.

[Qrazy]

To is the tits, as is this film.

[Peng]

Johnnie To's interconnected-narrative film, and if it's obvious and blunt all the way about the financial crisis plot element that affects each storyline, To's touch is also fleeter than someone like I??rritu would have done, laced with dark humor and unabashedly thriller elements of time-ticking suspense. Arguably peaks too early with the stomach-churning, slow-motion-trainwreck sequence of a banker pushing a senior customer to invest in high-risk mutual fund that she isn't remotely prepared for, in which Soh Hang-suen's sympathetic deer-in-headlight portrayal of the latter is so distressing to witness that it isn't surprising to learn afterwards that she won Hong Kong Film Award's Best Supporting Actress for this. 7/10