One Last Dance (2006)

An assassin is hired to kill the men responsible for kidnapping an important man's son. With every death, the killer gets closer to the last kidnapper's name.

Director:

Max Makowski

Writer:

Max Makowski

Stars:

Francis Ng, Lung Ti, Vivian Hsu

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Francis Ng	...	T
Lung Ti	...	Captain
Vivian Hsu	...	Mae
Joseph Quek	...	Ko
Harvey Keitel	...	Terrtano
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Boo	...	Farting Dog
Guo Hua Chen	...	Seargent
Tianwen Chen	...	Pui
Daphne Chia	...	Ballerina IV
Taylor Chia	...	Ballerina II
Paerin Choa	...	Bartender
Gordan Choy	...	Guard I
Salina Chung	...	Gu
Brendon Fernandez	...	Muscleman
Fang Rong Foo	...	Child III

Storyline

An assassin is hired to kill the men responsible for kidnapping an important man's son. With every death, the killer gets closer to the last kidnapper's name.

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Plot Keywords:

kidnapping | italian opera | italian mafia | whiskey | blood spatter | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Romance | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language

Details

Country:

Singapore

Language:

English Mandarin Cantonese

Release Date:

11 January 2007 (Singapore)

Also Known As:

Cha mo

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Film Bund, Ming Productions, Media Development Authority (MDA)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Francis Ng was the director's first choice for the role of T.

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Quotes

Captain: As a cop all I have to do is live by the rules of the law. What's right and what's wrong is all I need to know, and that's much easier than trying to figure out what's good and what's bad.

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Soundtracks

"Broken Orange"
Written by John Swihart and Pakk Hui and Max Makowski
Performed by Pakk Hui and Heather Donaldson

User Reviews

The only movie I HAD to see at Sundance 2006

This was really the only movie at Sundance 2006 that I absolutely HAD to see. Many (American) audience members simply did not understand the humor in the more dramatic parts (very characteristic of Korean-style dramas) which simply is not seen much in American movies. Note: this movie is not Korean, but I draw from Korean movies as a reference.

T, an experienced hit-man (Francis Ng) is forced to work with a group of young bumbling gangsters. T is more or less a "strong silent" honorable man (the irony being that he kills for a living) who is contracted to kill via names written in lai si packets (little red packets - commonly associated with gifts given during Chinese New Year). You, as a viewer, piece together the past and the present regarding T, the woman he has a crush on (Vivian Hsu), the idiotic gangsters T works with, an old detective T plays chess with (who is working on the some cases involving dead gangsters), and the rest of the gangster underground. Ultimately, T must protect the woman he loves, retain his honor as a man and fulfill his responsibilities as a professional hit-man.

I am not big into HK/Singaporean movies, but my experience watching Korean dramas/comedies prepared me to understand much of the humor when it seemed to glaze over much of the rest of the American audience. I personally thought some moments were hysterical. The movie is more or less a crime-drama (I guess) but from my experience, Asian dramas don't like to restrain themselves to only one genre. I personally think that Max Makowski (writer/director) managed to minimize explanation of some parts, which gave the film a more adult/mature/lifelike quality (i.e. what was in the suitcase?).

I don't think I could recommend a similar movie (few have managed to put together a quality script with rich characters), but the garbled time-line is similar to Memento (or Pulp Fiction for you main-streamers) and the main character is vaguely like Old Boy. I can't wait for One Last Dance to make it to DVD because it is already starting to fade from my memory and I do believe that this is one of my top 10 movies.