Office (Johnnie To)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb / Wiki

[megladon8]

Chow Yun Fat is such a handsome mofo.

[Stay Puft]

I had no idea what to make of this one at first, but once it found its rhythm (or I was able to tune into its wavelength) I was able to enjoy it. I still don't know what to make of parts of it (Wei Tang's character is a frustrating exercise in I don't even know wtf they were thinking) but the clockwork set and detailed focus on HK office dynamics were plenty engaging. Still, I suppose this is what fans would call minor To, so I'll give it a minor yay. Hardly the best thing he's done recently.

[Henry Gale]

Oh wow, so after this crossed my mind and I happened to look up this thread, I noticed I had "Auto Restore Content" for it of a review I never actually posted for it. So here is me from TIFF-time September 2015 with some thoughts on this:


As an English-speaking audience member, this is a difficult movie to watch the way Johnnie To properly intends. By that, I mean I sat fairly close to the screen -- which lent itself nicely when the director himself came out to introduce the film with his screenwriter Sylvia Chang beforehand -- but as a musical where the visuals, the melodies and the lyrics are all divided by the 3D, my comprehension of what was being sung through the subtitles, and just trying to sit back and enjoy the music; it was a lot of information and whimsy to take in for much of its first two thirds. (Longtime friend I saw it with had less of a problem as he's spoken Cantonese pretty much his life, but even then agreed the 3D/subtitle combo wasn't particularly viewer-friendly.) Similarly, Gaspar Noé said before our Love screening that he was thrilled that TIFF audiences were the first to see it properly in his mind, as prior to this week the film had only been screened around the world accompanied with subtitles over the 3D, and he felt that "totally fucked up the look of it" and distracted from the imagery. (It made me feel kinda fortunate that most big, three-dimensional spectacles like this are usually done in a language I don't need subtitles for, or even with cases like Ghibli movies, where the dubs are also done so nicely that opting for that isn't a bad choice at all and I can often just absorb the visuals even more.) It's hard imagine a good English dub of Office would ever exist, especially considering the factor of melodies and lyrics to adapt within them. But then again other countries seem to do it pretty seamlessly for things like Disney animated musics so what do I know?

But bottom line, it looks pretty amazing, like an old sound-stage musical done almost entirely with modern fluorescent light sculptures and singular architecture as its sets, the performances, and camerawork are zesty and funny (particularly Wang Ziyi's as the wide-eyed and charmingly naive lead character), the music isn't particularly remarkable (hearing that Chan's adapted it from her own play that didn't have songs wasn't a huge surprise) and the 3D, though sometimes shoddily post-converted, still has visuals that lend themselves so well to the multi-plane design where every room sees into one another. The choice of setting it in Hong Kong in 2008 right before the financial crisis is also a lot more interesting to see from a perspective that isn't a Western country, even if it exists in this very heightened, dream-like and hard to peg version of anyone's economic climate or tangible emotional state.

Later on though, the movie seems less keen on being a musical, the satirical elements don't bubble up as frequently, the novelty of the gorgeous production design wears off, the intensity of the classy, swirling visuals tone down, and the actual plot, character journeys and their cohering storytelling begin to take center stage, that side of the film's attributes begins to show how thin they really are.

It's still more than worth a curiosity watch, and I think it also does enough merely with its hybrid of stage and cinema spectacle that's never quite been done to this extent (side note: When I was in high school I watched a movie in class that a big ensemble cast in a hotel/inn(?) that was done in long takes and staged like a play with people talking down from the second floor and such that I can't remember for the life of me what it was but it's vaguely stuck with me ever since. Any help is welcome.) to render even an unsuccessful experience with it interesting.

**1/2 / 6.2

[Peng]

I fall on the side of loving Johnnie To's semi-divisive musical. Sure, there aren't any real characters to hang on, but the Tati-homaged sets of geometric lines and giant transparent rooms, coupled with its plot set on the eve of 2008's financial crisis, feel like they intentionally overwhelm these people as pawns in the system enough, stressed by camera angles that often frame its setting as almost a prison, that it doesn't bother me much. Plus, the ensemble (especially Sylvia Chang) all liven up their types, the choreography and musical bits are eye-catching, and the story reveals its teeth underneath the whimsy surface as it goes along. 8/10