[Field Report] The Mission(1999)

 

Introduction

 

A: Hello, everyone; today we will introduce the movie The Mission (1999), which was known as one of the best action movies in Hong Kong movie history, directed by Johnnie To. And we will focus on one specific architecture –– the Lok Hau Fook Restaurant.

 

B: The film told about five highly-skilled gunmen being recruited as bodyguards to protect an underground triad boss from mysterious killers. Throughout the mission, a sense of brotherhood has grown between them. However, the leader of the team, Curtis, was demanded by the boss to execute the youngest of the five. As an important site where several key film events have taken place, Lok Hau Fook restaurant also shows how Johnnie To transformed an ordinary space into a multi-functional scene for different occasions (murder, celebration, rivalry). 

 

B: Let us see how the same small restaurant can change how it looks in the movie to fit the plot and how it looks when it serves as a restaurant opening to the public. Celina, would you help us analyze the debut of this site in the film and talk about the exterior of the building?

 

The Exterior

 

A: Let’s focus on the first scene and the restaurant’s exterior. From a stationary, body-height viewing angle fixed across the street, we looked as Curtis parked his car and walked to the gate without a hurry. The whole facade was presented and introduced  like it was in a Mise En Scene, implying that this building is a meaningful set of the film and might appear again. However, the billboard and the neon sign were not shown, and the colors of the building were gray and washed-out, thus making this building quite unpretentious and well hidden in the street. After Curtis and his myrmidon came out, we could hear and see commuting cars and freight trucks passing by the busy, narrow street, drowning out the sound of the dying victim crushing his body on the locked iron shutter door. For another scene when it is filmed at late night, the whole street is immersed in the dark, while only the restaurant lights up a little with a closed door; meanwhile, the image is shot from an overhead view, an analogy to surveillance cameras, further intensifies the sense of oppression and danger.

 

B: The description of the outside brings the audience a sense of casualty in broad daylight, making a drastic contrast with what happened in the restaurant. This contrast shows the audience how Curtis was a brutal and well-experienced ex-mob member. The start of the background music also provided a figurative image of its owner Curtis: powerful, deliberate, and mysterious. 

 

A: However, in reality, the restaurant was quite noticeable. The large sign and neon billboard hung across the street stood out since a majority of neon billboards were banned by the government. As the only remaining Tong Lou on this street, the vendor’s design also made it protrude from its side of the street, while in the film, the vendor served a contrasting function of segregating the entrance from the street. The columns were painted red, and the aged lime walls looked yellower from asides because of oxidation. And the reason for this contrast is that the restaurant in the film plays a different role than in reality. In reality, what the restaurant should achieve is to attract customers by coloring to make it more visible or placing huge signage. However, in the movie, the restaurant served as a meeting place for gangsters instead; therefore, it must be characterized as understated and inconspicuous. 

 

The Interior

 

A: David, would you briefly introduce the interior space of the restaurant and analyze how it was presented in the film? 

B: Here’s a simple general floor plan of the restaurant. As we can see, a register below the staircase separates the restaurant into two parts. Big round tables are set on the left of the register, near the shrine, reserved for important, private banquets. Screens are also set to segregate between tables. The other side is put with small tables for more spontaneous dines. 

 

B: Let’s look at this still in the scene where Curtis took another gangster(The Mice) ‘s life. The victim was set in an inner position with his back against the wall. Curtis took the seat beside him, and his troop stood right beside the register table, stepping on the only exit. Spatially, ‘the Mice’ was captured entirely and soon became the prey of Curtis. From this scene, we may find out that the register under the staircase played an essential role in segregating the outer and inner parts of the restaurant, thus creating a “private” space out of limited room capacity. To let the murder take place here would then be natural.

 

We selected another still that presented the five guys having “the last meal” upon the execution of Shin. Roy was pouring beer to Curtis and for the last time, asked him to spare his apprentice’s life. Contrary to the previous scene(though we were facing the same direction), the room looked more spacious, and the entrance/exit was also presented. As for the narrative, the entrance suggested the linkage of this incident with the outside——where the boss’s surveillant stood and watched them. We can also see the wide-angle lens to be used here as mentioned. The surroundings were cleared, and the round table was foregrounded in the middle for us to concentrate on the tension among the five. The five guys’ evenly-matched power created great uncertainty in this dilemma; thus there isn’t any geometric dissymmetry in this shot, in contrast with the previous scenario.

 

The situation had come close, and after a failed attempt of pledging to the boss, the five went into a classic Mexican-Standoff —— pointing at each other with their guns. The deadlock lasted until Curtis broke the silence and started shooting. Johnnie To made this part extraordinarily dazzling by quickly switching shots between characters from different angles, close-up, distances, etc. The constant changes of visual angles give the audience a sense of nervousness and confusion and also further “expand” the restaurant’s space in our minds. The director also used the plate stacked on the side of the register where Roy unloaded to vent his rage. (The plates’ are still there) This scene proved Johnnie To’s competence in Mise En Scene that he could make a spectacular scene in a limited setup. 

 

A: The most obvious difference we observe is the color tone. The restaurant uses warm colors especially red and yellow as decoration in the interior, which creates a warm, pleasant, and cheerful atmosphere to increase customers’ appetite as well as uplift their moods. There is a new pair of couplets hanging on the wall, and the chairs are also covered with red and yellow chair covers. The shrine on the wall is also very jubilant, lighting up red bulbs. The lighting throughout the restaurant is also much brighter than in the film. Overall, the interior of the restaurant brings a warm feeling by using warm colors, instead of what is presented in the film with a grey and cool tone. 

 

Another intuitive difference was the space size. The restaurant, in reality, felt very small, and the distance between tables was short. So we may find out that the photographer used many wide-angle shots to capture the dining scene. However, not only did photographing techniques help to “expand” the space, but the editing and the set layout also utilized the capacity and complexity of the restaurant’s space.

 

B: So why did Johnnie To choose this particular restaurant as a film set? 

The Decoration

A: So for the decoration, the background wall is the shrine of three traditional Chinese fairies, ‘ Fu Lu Shou.’ It is also a representation of traditional Hong Kong culture that restaurants often place shrines within to invite good luck; Fairies, especially Guan Yu, are also frequently used in gang culture because it symbolizes the spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice. 

 

Street Culture

B: What’s more, the restaurant resides in Tong Lau, a traditional south-east Asian style architecture featuring a significant veranda that provides a shaded walkway for pedestrians. Such architecture was once commonly seen where Southeast Asia Chinese immigrants inhabited, but only few were left now in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the restaurant is located in Kowloon City District and is only blocks away from the former Kowloon Wall City. Having been exempted from law enforcement for history reasons since the 19th century, Kowloon Wall City had been a shelter for illegal immigrants, as well as organized crimes. Therefore, a majority of stories and legends about the triad have taken place here and the surrounding area. As a restaurant serving traditional Teochew food since the 1950s, the rich cultural background may also have contributed to the restaurant being chosen by To.

 

Cultural factors 

A: The reason why restaurants are so important in films, especially these gang films, is that it is also very important in Chinese culture. In people’s typical greeting, there are always some words of ‘Have you eaten yet?’ and return other people’s favors by inviting them to a restaurant and treating them to a meal. It is so common and deep-rooted in people’s minds that gangsters are also no exception. 

 

B: As for filmmaking, the restaurant’s space is also irreplaceable for its complexity and potential. A restaurant’s domestic area may be public to every diners; however, it is also easy for an extremely private area to be created between seats. A restaurant usually provides a relaxed atmosphere, but it can also be used for many other activities, and it’s almost the most accessible interior space for everybody. The rich implications that food contains also create potentials for building tensions. 

 

Conclusion

So that’s the end of our podcast, thanks for listening.

 

 

Sun Manling 3036099502

Shen Kaizhe 3035974640