Complete film Analysis
The film A Better Tomorrow is an action film involving characters on both
sides of the law. It is a film about family, friendships, betrayal, and
revenge. The film follows Sung Tse-Ho, a member of the Triad who works printing
and distributing counterfeit US dollars, his friend and business partner Mark
Lee, and Ho’s younger brother Kit, who aims to be a police detective.
The first scene of the film
starts with a dream Ho is having about his younger brother being shot. He wakes
from his nightmare yelling out Kit’s name drenched in sweat. We are then
introduced to Mark who is smoking a cigarette in the middle of the street
waiting for Ho to pick him up. It is clear from the beginning that the two men
share a close bond through their interactions alone. We follow them in their
business for a short time and are eventually introduced to Shing, who works alongside
Mark and Ho’s boss. He is not as relaxed as the other men and seems to be very
respectful of them. We also see just how laid-back Mark is as he decides to
jokingly scare Shing when they are told to take him with them on their visit to
Taiwan. We also see more of how close Mark and Ho are as they constantly joke
with each other and wrestle their way into an elevator.
The next scene introduces us to
Ho’s younger brother, Kit. He seems rather immature at first, pretending to be
a police officer and acting as though he is going to arrest his older brother
before the two start to fool around in the hallway. He then informs his brother
that he has decided to become a police inspector before introducing his girlfriend,
Jackie, to Ho. Jackie then accidentally cuts the flowers off the stems and
paces the stems into the vase, showing how clumsy she is. She then proceeds to
bump into everything with her instrument case. Kit is also rather clumsy as a
few minutes later he knocks down a few of the judges at Jackie’s tryout, forces
them to stay and listen to her, and then breaks the window of one of their
cars.
The film does not stay happy go
lucky forever though. Kit is admitted into the police academy, unknowingly
putting him on the opposite side of the law from his older brother. Soon after,
Ho, and Shing’s business trip to Taiwan goes bad. The men they are doing with
turn on them as they were paid double to kill them, and Ho is shot in the side.
The nearby police hear the shootout and rush to the scene. In the end, Ho is
arrested while Shing escapes. Ho is then imprisoned for three years. Meanwhile,
a man breaks into his father’s house to kill him. Kit shows up to try and save
his father but is ultimately too late. Mark goes on a mission to kill the traitors
and gets shot in the leg in the ensuing shootout.
After three years, Ho is released
from prison, but his bond with kit has been broken and he is out of a job. Ho
gets on the right track for a time, working as a taxi driver among other former
criminals. Shing tries to hire him, but when he refuses, Shing begins to go
after his family and friends. He tortures Mark and threatens Kit to try and
force Ho to join him. Ho steals the data on the Shings business to give to the
police and is pursued to the shipyard. A shootout occurs and Kit and Ho become
pinned down. Mark shows up to help but is eventually shot and killed by Shing.
Kit gives his gun to Ho and looks the other way as he shoots Shing. The film
ends with Ho and Kit walking towards the line of police, side by side and
handcuffed together.
The sounds throughout the film
are a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic. However, it is mostly non-diegetic.
There are a few scenes where most of the sound comes from the action or the
background of the film, such as gunshots in the shootouts, music in the bars
and restaurants, and traffic in the streets. But the rest of the music that is
played is edited in. There are points where the music is somber and others
where it is almost heroic. The “heroic” music can be heard multiple times, but
one example would be when Ho sees Shing leaving the building and getting in the
car after the three-year time skip. The point in the film where the music is
the most somber, is when Mark is killed in the final shootout.
Lighting is also another aspect
of the film that is rather interesting. The film has most of the happy or
upbeat moments set either during the day or in well lit places while the darker
or more sad scenes are usually set at night.
Scene Analysis
The scene I will be analyzing is
the scene where Tse-Ho first sees Mark again for the first time in three years.
This scene is from around minute 37-40. The scene takes place shortly after
Tse-Ho is released from jail. He has been rejected and beaten by his younger
brother and has found himself a job working at a taxi company. At the beginning
of the scene, we see Tse-Ho looking at the building where he used to work over
his newspaper from across the street.
When he first looks up, he sees
his old friend Mark hopping and limping down the steps and towards a car parked
along the streets. As we watch Mark walk down the steps, the music from the
previous scene fades out leaving only the sounds of the street in the
background. We see that Mark has some sort of metal brace on his leg, a memento
of his being shot while going after the men who betrayed him and Ho earlier in
the film. Due to his injured leg, Mark sort of hops and skips as he walks towards
a car parked beside the street. Mark reaches the car and begins spraying the
windshield with soapy water before cleaning it with a cloth that he has draped
over his shoulder. The expression on Ho’s face seems to contain a mixture of
relief and possibly concern for his friend’s current situation.
As we watch, Ho’s face turns towards the camera as he has noticed something that the audience has not yet seen. His face changes into a look of surprise at what he is seeing. The camera quickly cuts to the street across from him where Shing and his underlings are walking out of the building.
We see here that Shing has gone
from being a lackey to one of the top members since Ho had last seen him three
years prior. He is dressed up more fancily than those around him and is leading
the group, rather than walking behind them as he once did. The moment the
camera cuts to Shing, the sound of the film changes with it. Before, there was
no background music, just the sounds of the street, but as the camera cuts, an
almost heroic sounding music starts in. This music quickly fades out however as
Shing gets into the car that Mark had been cleaning. When Shing and his lackeys
reach the car, Mark is quick to open the doors for them to get in before
closing them again.
We also see that Shing’s personality has changed quite a bit as well. Earlier, he seemed almost humble and respectful, now however, he seems to have become rather stuck up or self-important. This is shown in how he tips Mark for cleaning the windshield by dropping the money on the ground with a quick, “Take this for lunch” rather than handing it directly to Mark. This is in direct contrast with what we see at the beginning of the film when Mark happily hands the driver of his car some money to go get checked out for his cough, kindly telling him “Take it and go see a doctor.” There is also a difference in their generosity. Whereas Mark gave the man all but one of the bills he had on him, Shing only drops three or four small bills for him.
It is now that we get a better
look at Mark from closer up. His outfit is quite ragged and dirty. We see later
that his shirt is filled with holes as well. We also see that Mark’s hair has
grown a bit and is not as well kept. We also see that his leg is in bad shape
as he tries to pick up the cash from the sidewalk, as he has to keep his leg
straight while bending down. As soon as he finishes picking up the cash, he
takes a few steps in the direction of the camera and it cuts to the next scene.
