Hong
Kong cinema gave the world Ko Chun, the Mr. Lucky who can’t lose in the God of Gamblers/From Vegas to Macao franchises.
Now Taiwan offers up a corrective in this new Chinese co-production. Gao Ye
once had wealth and social position, but he lost it all and kept on losing. He
will try to win back some redemption during a long dark night of the soul, but
the game is rigged against him in Matt Wu’s One
Night Only (trailer
here),
which opens this Friday in New York.
The
audience will know within seconds Gao Ye has seen the inside of a prison cell
and has some nasty credits on his case. At this point, he doesn’t much care. Being
cashless, he is rather surprised when an attractive prostitute loudly knocks on
his door, expecting to do business. Unable to shake the strangely innocent Momo,
Gao Ye convinces her to stake him instead. That works out about as well as we
expect. Thus begins a series of nocturnal misadventures in the tradition of
Scorsese’s After Hours (a lesser work
in his filmography), until things take a radically tragic turn.
In
fact, that is when the film really starts getting good. Frankly, the first act
is a bit of a slog, focusing on Gao Ye’s jerkheel behavior. Yet, Wu and
screenwriter Ren Peng also lay the groundwork for future payoffs at this time. Of
course, that also means the second act will get pretty darn dark, taking us through
the world of indentured prostitution and underground cage-fighting. Still, it crescendos
with a romantic crescendo worthy of Camille
that miraculously ties up all the suspicious loose ends lying about.
Yang
Zishan (who just so happens to be married to Wu) really breaks out of her
rom-com So Young/20 Once Again pigeon-holing
as the relentlessly sad yet hopeful Momo. This film just wouldn’t work without
her. Of course, Aaron Kwok is plenty believable as the dissolute Gao Ye, but he
also turns on the star wattage for the big redemptive moments. For extra added
heartache, Hao Lei is deeply compelling as Gao Y’s long suffering wife, seen in
flashbacks.
