Ever since Everything Everywhere All At Once blew many minds last year (mine included), I've thought I should check out some of Michelle Yeoh's older films. I've seen a couple of the big ones, but not as many as I should have, because she's had a very prolific career since the 1980s. Of her earlier films, Yes, Madam (1985) seemed to be one of the most well-known, so I thought it would be a good starting point.
Yeoh plays a cool, hypercompetent young police officer who's on the trail of a bunch of doofus criminals (thieves and gangsters). She's not quite in the movie as much as you'd expect - maybe because if she had more screentime early on, she'd solve the case well before the 90-minute mark, and the movie wouldn't be feature-length.
Now, I'm not saying this inspired Fargo (it's very different) but the idea of a smart, charismatic female detective tackling a complex case with many (stupid) men behind it is a little comparable to the Coen Brothers' classic... Maybe?
I mean, in both Yes, Madam and Fargo, while Yeoh and McDormand are the protagonists, the first half has many scenes focused on the criminals and the mistakes they made, so they can get their comeuppances in the second half. But the comparison is a little silly when you realise one's an action movie and one's a darkly comedic thriller.
Some of the scenes early on in Yes, Madam felt sort of comedic, but the comedy didn't always land for me. I do find that sometimes with Hong Kong films from this era - their style of humour is very different from what I'm used to. With Jackie Chan, for example, I adore his action scenes, but don't always feel as amazing by the comedy scenes in his movie.
Naturally, this means the film gets better as it goes along and gets more action-heavy. And when the film features Yeoh taking down the bad guys, it's really satisfying. It's a shame there are like 50 minutes between the opening action scene and the next time she gets to fight, but oh well.
Her presence in the action scenes and charisma in the non-action scenes has made me want to watch a few more of her older movies, at least before she wins her Oscar in a couple of months for Everything Everywhere all at Once (calling it now - manifesting it, if you will).
Yeoh plays a cool, hypercompetent young police officer who's on the trail of a bunch of doofus criminals (thieves and gangsters). She's not quite in the movie as much as you'd expect - maybe because if she had more screentime early on, she'd solve the case well before the 90-minute mark, and the movie wouldn't be feature-length.
Now, I'm not saying this inspired Fargo (it's very different) but the idea of a smart, charismatic female detective tackling a complex case with many (stupid) men behind it is a little comparable to the Coen Brothers' classic... Maybe?
I mean, in both Yes, Madam and Fargo, while Yeoh and McDormand are the protagonists, the first half has many scenes focused on the criminals and the mistakes they made, so they can get their comeuppances in the second half. But the comparison is a little silly when you realise one's an action movie and one's a darkly comedic thriller.
Some of the scenes early on in Yes, Madam felt sort of comedic, but the comedy didn't always land for me. I do find that sometimes with Hong Kong films from this era - their style of humour is very different from what I'm used to. With Jackie Chan, for example, I adore his action scenes, but don't always feel as amazing by the comedy scenes in his movie.
Naturally, this means the film gets better as it goes along and gets more action-heavy. And when the film features Yeoh taking down the bad guys, it's really satisfying. It's a shame there are like 50 minutes between the opening action scene and the next time she gets to fight, but oh well.
Her presence in the action scenes and charisma in the non-action scenes has made me want to watch a few more of her older movies, at least before she wins her Oscar in a couple of months for Everything Everywhere all at Once (calling it now - manifesting it, if you will).