Review for Sparrow

Introduction

I haven't seen all that many Johnnie To films, but what I have seen, Mad Detective, Running Out of Time, and Fulltime Killer have led me to believe that his output consists of hard-boiled, high octane action thrillers, excelling in suspense and tension. Terracotta Distribution have already released his Sparrow in a three-disc limited edition, with a disc full of extras including an exclusive documentary, and a soundtrack CD. Now it's time for the single disc vanilla release, and I took the belated opportunity to indulge in some more Johnnie To intensity. What I got with Sparrow was something completely different, stylish, quirky, and original.


The Sparrow is Hong Kong slang for the time-honoured profession of the pickpocket. Four of the best pickpockets in the business in that city are Cam, Bo, Sak and their leader Kei. They make a decent enough living at it; enough so that Kei can spend his copious free time cycling through the city, and indulging his passion for photography. One day, he captures a breathtaking subject in his viewfinder, an enigmatic woman whose elegant panic has a story to tell. But Chun Lei also manages to snare the attentions of the other gang members and it quickly transpires that she has need of these pickpockets' skills. She's in a relationship that is smothering and confining her, and she wants out. For certain reasons, that exit is locked away in her lover's safe, and she needs the pickpockets to get the key to that safe. What Kei and his friends don't know is that by helping her, they'll be going up against a bigger, better, and more ruthless thief.

Picture

Sparrow gets a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer on a single layer disc. It's an NTSC-PAL conversion, and you'd think that on a barebones disc there ought to be enough room for it to breathe. There are some twenty minutes worth of trailers though, which adds to the video content on the disc, and while at first glance Sparrow looks quite pretty on the DVD, with closer inspection there are a few issues. Certain frames do show excessive compression, but far more annoying is the shimmer on fine detail, and the distracting moiré on mesh and certain clothing textiles. Sparrow just about gets away with it on an old fashioned CRT set, but up-scaled onto a high resolution display does it no favours. I guess that additional sharpness has been applied to give it an apparent PAL style resolution. Otherwise, it's clear and sharp throughout, and colours are reproduced well. It's a shame that the film couldn't get the Blu-ray treatment, as its cinematography is astounding, making the best use of its Hong Kong locations.

Sound

You have the choice between DD 5.1 and DD 2.0 Cantonese, with optional English subtitles. The film gets an understated but effective surround presence, while the dialogue is clear throughout. Where the film really stands out is in the eclectic and whimsical music score. It has a mellow jazz feel to it that wouldn't be out of place in a sixties caper movie, but coupled with the film's visuals and really organic direction, it serves to make it a timeless movie.

Extras

This is the vanilla release; you don't get the extras disc or the soundtrack CD that is in the limited edition. What you do get is a disc that autoplays with trailers for Terracotta Distribution product including Hansel & Gretel, God Man Dog, and Breathless.

The disc itself has a static menu, and the only extras are the previously mentioned trailers, further trailers for The Fox Family, Big Tits Zombie, The Detective, a promo reel called 'What is Terracotta?' and an About Terracotta set of web links.

The film itself is preceded by a 90-second introduction by director Johnnie To.

Conclusion

I was expecting gritty, edgy, fast-paced high-tension thrills and spills. What I got from Sparrow was something a lot more whimsical and poetic. It's also much more of a comedy than a thriller, albeit a wry observational comedy that focuses more on character than situation. In Sparrow, Johnnie To has created something gentle and elegant, a quirky and unique piece of entertainment. It's slow paced, it's stylish and it's visually arresting. It's also an ode to the breathtaking beauty of Hong Kong, a visceral collision of new and old architecture very much made a character in this film. That and the offbeat soundtrack combine and caress to offer something wholly unexpected from Hong Kong cinema, a movie with a strongly European feel to it.


The visual aesthetic, coupled with the languid pace is overpowering enough to almost make the story seem secondary at times, but fortunately the characterisations are so well created and have such impact that the balance is restored. To regular Simon Yam makes for a dapper and stylish thief in Kei, meticulous in appearance, worldly wise and aware of his limitations and his talent. Not so much his deputy, who thinks he's ready to lead the group, but whose grasp exceeds his reach. The group is completed by the young Turk and the seasoned veteran, and the four of them work in perfect harmony, separating the unsuspecting from their belongings.


It's when they encounter Chun Lei, played to perfection by Kelly Lin, that their delicate balance is upset. She is the textbook definition of a femme fatale, and with her advent, the film takes on a delicious noir air. Sparrow also proves that in the 21st Century, even with cancer warnings and horrific images on cigarette packaging, smoking is still dead sexy. She wants out of the situation that she's in, and has decided that the quartet of pickpockets are the best way to achieve that, whether they want to help or not. Three of them want to help, it's only Kei that manages to resist her charms, but once his men get sucked in, he has to look out for them regardless, especially as their opponent gets pre-emptive when he sees that Chun Lei is getting too close to them.


Their opponent turns out to be the rich and powerful Mr Fu, who has no intention of letting go of the woman he loves. Yet all it would take to release Chun Lei from her bonds would be a simple act of pilfering. Except that it turns out that Mr Fu is rich and powerful because he too is, or rather was a pickpocket, and has gotten wealthy from his ill-gotten gains. He sees Kei and his gang coming from miles off, and is able to thwart them. Obviously neither can go to the authorities, and Chun Lei's fate will boil down to who the better pickpocket is, and the hope that there is still honour among thieves. It leads to the film's stupendous, amazingly shot, brilliantly choreographed, and utterly absorbing climax.


The story may not be the deepest or most challenging ever put to celluloid, but the characters engage the emotions completely, and as a pure piece of cinema, Sparrow is devastatingly impressive. Every frame is filled with elegant insouciance, and it makes you fall in love with Hong Kong in its entirety, from the smallest, oldest ghetto to the most modern high-rise skyscraper. You can pre-order this single-disc version now, but there are still copies of the 3-disc Limited Edition in e-tailers, and priced around the same as this single disc edition. The choice is obvious.