Big Brother 大师兄

Foremost a film about Hong Kong educational and societal problems with a dose of action sprinkled in.

Da Shi Xiong

Directed by Kam Ka Wai

Starring Donnie Yen, Joe Chen, Billy Lau, Wu Fung, Alfred Cheung, Gladys Li

120 mins

Hong Kong, Cantonese

2018

This is not your typical Donnie Yen film, Big Brother’s story is priority over the fight scenes. Being a passion project of Yen’s, the film is a social commentary of Hong Kong educational system and hardships of society especially those affecting the young.

Yen plays Henry Chan Xia a former war soldier turned teacher at a problematic secondary school. Teaching a class of troubled students that includes a poor orphan boy (Jack Lok) raised by his grandma, a female student (Gladys Li) neglected by her father who prioritises his love and care for there son, twin brothers (Bruce Tong and Chris Tong) who are ignored by there alcoholic father and a Pakistani student (Gordon Lau) who aspires to be a musician and faces discrimination by the police. Henry Chan uses his unconventional methods to engage his students and goes about resolving each of the students problems. Amidst this is the schools potential closure due to its failure of successful students being admitted to universities. Also looming in the background is the triads desire to acquire the land that the school sits on. One of the students gets involved with said triad boss (Yu Kang) resulting in Henry Chan stepping in to resolve matters with his fists which lands Chan in trouble leading to his acquittal as teacher. During the students all important exams the triads execute there plan and it is down to Chan to save the day.

Directed by Kam Ka Wai who is an experienced assistant director in Hong Kong and has successfully transitioned to the directors chair in 2016 with iGirl followed by 2017 Colour of the Game and Queen of Triads. Big Brother marks his fourth directional film which is very pedestrian in execution and generic in presentation full of cliches and conventions.It is overstuffed with many unnecessary side plots and characters, this is a case of where streamlining would have benefited the film greatly. With 5 students to deal with and everyone including all bit players having baggage or stories that need to be told that is a lot of work for a feature film. Cramming subjects such as alcoholism, teen suicide, racism, drugs, triads, poverty, failed educational system, pressures of society, housing problem and many more issues that the film touches upon but never really focuses on. Henry Chan spends more time interacting with the students personal affairs its questionable when is he actually teaching.

Everyones road to redemption is handled with so much ease its a false reflection on societies real life problems. Actions have little consequences a mid way fight results in police interaction but has little consequences. Most side characters and background characters are mostly painted ignorant, arrogant or bad in order to highlight Donnie's greatness in character and push his agenda. Yen’s Henry Chan is a larger than life character bordering on caricature. A hard line approach is used to criticise the system with heavy narration and stock footage to emphasis the problems at hand. Pacing is a off about 20 percent into the film audience are already presented with stock footage and dictation which feels misplaced and heavy foreshadowing, nearer the end the same technique of stock footage is used again tofurther push it's message. Mid way through theres also a unnecessary war scene that feels at odds with the rest of the film.

The musical score is familiar it hits all the key emotions with ease if a little conventional. James Blunt and Lukas Graham songs are used to emphasis emotions with occasions where it questionably plays the same song in quick succession.

Yen’s regular, Kenji Tanigaki serves as action choreographer and does a fine job in showcasing Donnie's skills. Throwing a combination of impressive kicks and grappling moves. Though sadly the camera does occasionally fail to keep up with said action as a lot of times it's framed relatively tight and little over edited. Also there are fewer combinations of kicks and punches with more emphasis placed on grappling and throws though what is displayed is impressive. There's a lot of story to sit through before we get to the first fight, which is a scuffle at a locker room full of henchmen (Jess Liaudin, Brahim Achabbakhe, Tom Casesto, Craig Miller, Mike Leeder) it's an impressive demonstration of prowess for Donnie where he spends a lot of time throwing things and throwing people through things with the occasional kick here and there. The final throwdown between Yen and Yu Kang is another long grappling match that's satisfactory but could have benefited more from kicks and punches interchange. Though it does not disappoint at the level that Special ID did where it felt too scrappy, Big Brother feels more refined in execution.

Donnie’s acting abilities is still questionable with him still coming across as self aware but seems to be enjoying the role. The film depicts him as unorthodox but his outcomes are so predictable. A powerful moment is when the education border questions Henry Chan's abilities and Yen gives a short but powerful speech that pretty much summaries the message the film was trying to convey. Yu Kang plays the lead villain clearly relishing the extended screen time and caricature turn as triad boss. His actions are very questionable within the film and is never fully developed. His plot line serves little purpose story wise and could have been cut out all together for a more coherent product but for purposes of Donnie beating people up he is included. The young cast are serviceable in there respective roles and provides the right level of emotions. Veteran actors Billy Lau, Wu Fung, Alfred Cheung and Dominic Lam provides welcome performances.

Hard to recommend to martial art fans as this is a slight departure from Yens norm, though there is fighting it's a long haul before the audience gets there. A good intention film that may not be the most creative or original product but who doesn't enjoy a product of self discovery, redemption and people rising up to the occasion. Its also good to sit through a film that does not intentionally pander towards the China market.