Where the Wind Blows Movie Review: Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung Play Corrupt Police Sergeants in Philip Yung’s Wildly Ambitious Period Crime Drama
By Chloe Bennett
3.5/5 stars
Philip Yung Tsz-kwong’s Where the Wind Blows is an artistically accomplished, genre-bending epic of the sort that is rarely attempted in Hong Kong cinema.
But Where the Wind Blows offers so much more of everything else – from its sweeping historical scope to its ambivalent depiction of police corruption – that it is very much its own beast. This is a period biopic stapled to a crime thriller and decorated with a healthy sprinkling of history.
The hot-headed Lui is portrayed initially as an idealistic young man (played by Chui Tien-you) struggling to adapt to a culture in which everyone is on the take.
His subsequent rise through the ranks is ironically shown to be orchestrated by his resourceful Shanghainese wife, Tsai Zhen (Du Juan), who secretly pulls strings with the city’s organised-crime syndicates behind his back.
Nam is a wealthy young man (played by Lam Yiu-sing) who becomes a sharpshooter after he’s taken in by a Japanese commander during the war. His journey to becoming Lui’s fiercest rival in the police force is no less convoluted.
Leung’s charming delivery keeps things interesting, although the fine line between good and evil that his scheming character straddles is occasionally too vaguely drawn to be effective.
Regrettably, Where the Wind Blows is less interested in cataloguing the intricacies of their criminal activities than in contemplating their romantic heartbreak.
Lui’s marriage is marred by his longing for a girl (Jessie Li) he lost during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in the early 1940s, while Nam’s unconsummated desire for Tsai feels arbitrary at best.
As the stand-ins for the two other “Great Sergeants”, Michael Chow Man-kin’s seemingly righteous Bee and Patrick Tam Yiu-man’s duplicitous Yim leave only passing impressions.
In spite of its wildly ambitious approach to storytelling and stunning production values – the film does engross with scene after sumptuously staged scene throughout its 144-minute duration – there is something inaccessible about this sprawling and frequently brooding effort.
Its relative lack of narrative momentum, the repeated detours from the protagonists’ larger-than-life criminal careers, and their sometimes indecipherable motivations all combine to render Where the Wind Blows more of a visual feast for an art-house-inclined audience than the entertaining caper that mainstream viewers might have hoped for instead.
Chloe Bennett explores the intersection of pop culture, streaming entertainment, digital trends, and contemporary lifestyle. Her weekly commentary reaches thousands of culture enthusiasts.
