EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED CONTEMPORARY URBAN CINEMA FROM HONG KONG'S MILKYWAY IMAGE PRODUCTIONS September 15-17, 2000 at the Anthology Film Archives, New York

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED (1998) Director: Patrick Yau Starring: Lau Ching-wan, Simon Yam, Ruby Wong, Yoyo Mung, Lam Suet, Raymond Wong, Hui Shiu-hung 90 minutes, color, 35mm in Cantonese with English subtitles Showtimes: Friday, Sept 15 at 6:00pm Sunday, Sept 17 at 9:45pm "I like the romance. I'm more fond of the romance in EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED ­ that missing a chance means missing everything." - Patrick Yau "The world of EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED is transient and unpredictable." - Wai Ka-fai As financial belts have tightened in Hong Kong during a series of late-90's economic crises, the action superproductions that made the Special Administrative Region famous have fallen by the wayside, and instead film makers have turned their formidable skills to the ensemble drama. Now when you see an action movie from Hong Kong it's liable that the understated character work and the careful attention to human behavior will carry just as much heft as the bullet holes pocking their way up the front of a baddie. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED brings a touching feel for human tenderness to Milkyway's normal "no way out" fate-heavy action pictures. Influenced strongly by the delicate rhythms of Japanese tv dramas, a craze which was sweeping Hong Kong during production, Patrick Yau and Wai Ka-fai give us a watercolor study of a group of resolutely middle-class professionals who just happen to be cops working together to bring to ground two gangs of criminals who take their jobs way too seriously. A stunning opening set piece - twenty minutes of carefully calculated screw tightening ­ launches Yau's camera into gliding motion as it follows each of his O Department members ­ buttoned-down Ken (Simon Yam), loose-cannon Sam (Lau Ching-wan), by-the-book Macy (Ruby Wong), and lover-boy Jackie (Raymond Wong) ­ as they encounter old flames (namely Yoyo Mung, in her first screen performance), get investigated for corruption, and hunt down a squad of home invaders who are raping and murdering their way across Hong Kong, a duffel bag full of heavy artillery in tow. Zipped up in their funked out wardrobes (the 70's never had such an influence on the 90's before) these cops can pull their leather jackets as tight as they want, but they'll never be able to protect their hearts from love's wounds or the occasional bullet hole. Apart from THE MISSION this is Milkyway's finest ensemble piece to date. Ruby Wong and Yoyo Mung are dead-on with their portraits of two very different women going after what they want in a man's world. Simon Yam, after years of hackwork, makes a career comeback with his portrayal of a guy who's grown too used to denying himself what he wants until his life has burned out leaving him with nothing but colleagues and a job. Lau Ching-wan again demonstrates the DeNiro syndrome: a great actor who isn't noticed for all the finely-nuanced character work he's doing,. Rib-cracking outbursts of violence continually interrupt this movie's delicate drama, and by the time the audience has come to know this cast of hard-working goofballs every bullet in every shootout has potentially devastating consequences. Urban life has never looked so sexy, or so dangerous, as it does in EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED, a movie for the broken-hearted full of missed opportunities and tinged with a lifetime's worth of regrets. Read all the nice things the Hong Kong critics have to say about EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED and then read SF Gate's review of this film.

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