PLASTIC CITY (HONG KONG, 2008)

US PREMIERE (OF THE NEW CUT)

92 minutes, 35mm, in Mandarin, Portuguese & Japanese 

with English subtitles

Directed by: Yu Lik-wai

Starring: Anthony Wong, Joe Odagiri 

Note: "Buy Tickets" links will take you to the IFC Center website (for shows at IFC Center) and to Japan Society website (for shows at Japan Society). Tickets for each venue must be purchased separately. 

To step into the mildewed day-glo world of PLASTIC CITY is to witness globalization in hemorrhage. Deep in the throbbbing heart of Brazil, the Liberdade district shelters a legion of distaff Asian expatriates, adrift in a never-ending bazaar of cheap counterfeit merchandise. At the top of the landfill sits Yuda (the legendary Anthony Wong, INFERNAL AFFAIRS) and his foster son Kirin (Japanese superstar, Joe Odagiri), robber barons of a crazy-quilt junk kingdom. Yuda and Kirin love each other, yet each is looking to get out and when a Fancy Dan calling himself "Mr. Taiwan" strolls into the district and U.S. law enforcement begins to put pressure on the counterfeit trade, everything the duo has worked for is threatened. Pretty soon, a machete-wielding Yuda is having jungle flashbacks in his own backyard and setting his prize boat ablaze, while Kirin is leading a ragtag army of street kids into a CGI-splashed, Takashi Miike-esque samurai showdown, leading to a tripped-out jungle finale that's laced with a sprinkle of AGUIRRE-era Werner Herzog and a pinch of APOCALYPSE NOW.

Crime thriller, family drama, head trip, travelogue - PLASTIC CITY is all of these things, all at once, with plenty more under the hood and lots more in the back. The latest movie from renowned cinematographer Yu Lik-wai (LOVE WILL TEAR US APART, and Jia Zhangke's STILL LIFE and 24 CITY), the film shoots for the moon and several planets beyond. Yu drenches every sweat-dappled frame in saturated colors, rotting neons and sepias while the boiler-plate Asian mob movie elements are just the excuse for his characters’ psycho-odyssey: Wong's Yuda is a sad old man seething with barely-contained rage as a world he's weary of falls apart without his permission. As Kirin, Odagiri defies stereotypes, going from roguish renegade to little orphan lost, a crazy hobo without an identity beyond that which his lifestyle gave to him. An international Hong Kong-Brazillian production, PLASTIC CITY isn't just a film to be watched, but breathed, tasted, smelled - the curry, the huevos, the oil, the piss in the gutters, the rain in the jungle. With intoxicating visuals and attitude to spare, it's ambitious as hell and makes no apologies. So just hold on and remember Yuda's advice to Kirin: Don't stare too long at the white tiger, or it will destroy you.

Part of the Hong Kong Film Development Council’s “New Action” program.