Fridae

Johnnie To had better stick to directing noir films. The Hong Kong director’s latest effort is very surprisingly not a noir or crime film – two genres that Johnnie To has made his name in during the last decade or so. We were told at Cannes that Life Without Principle has been stewing in To’s head for the better part of three years. Unlike his noir films, this one will examine big issues. It will be a feat of storytelling, not entertainment.

As far as we can tell, there’s nothing special about the premise behind Life Without Principle. It’s an examination of greed for money and the lack of it in modern Hong Kong society. What’s even less special is To’s use of the portmanteau film approach that Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu (Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros) pioneered, developed, wore out, and eventually abandoned.

In Life Without Principle, three separate stories intertwine most unexpectedly for the briefest of moments before all hell breaks out, the denouement is made, and very important life lessons are learnt. Richie Ren plays a cop with a passive-aggressive spendthrift wife who browbeats him into getting a bank loan for a condo they can’t afford. Denise Ho plays a bank relations officer whose job security depends on selling people risky loans they shouldn’t be investing in. Lau Cheng Wan plays a small-time hoodlum who gets involved in a stock market scam on the eve of a Eurozone crisis.

All the characters in this film complain bitterly about not earning enough money and how everything costs more while selfishly, greedily indulging in ill-conceived schemes to fund their next purchase. Watching Life Without Principle, one gets the impression Johnnie To wants to make a national angst film. At times, the film is so shrill and full of heavy-handed gallows humour that you will be reminded quite unwillingly of Eric Khoo’s 12 Storeys and Jack Neo’s Money No Enough.