NYAFF REVIEW: ‘Mr. Six’ follows reformed gangster brought back into the violent life
Mr. Six, which recently played the New York Asian Film Festival, is a watchable gangster film mostly because of its towering central performance from Feng Xiaogang. Playing the titular character, Xiaogang carves out a complicated and complex portrait of a man facing a new period of his life. At times he’s calm and collected, while other times he unleashes violence without the blink of an eye.
Kudos to director Guan Hu for focusing the movie on Xiaogang’s Mr. Six. The audience first sees him walking the streets of his neighborhood almost like he owns the place. He obviously protects his acquaintances and doesn’t like outside influences to disrupt their simple, peaceful lives. When one police officer starts questioning a neighbor, Mr. Six ensures the official is knocked down a few pegs in front of the gaping crowd.
Retirement for Mr. Six is uneventful, which seems perfectly fine for the reformed gangster. That is until a gang of privileged young people kidnap his son, who foolishly scratched the gang leader’s Lamborghini. Mr. Six is brought into the drama and must find a way to rescue his son from their malevolent clutches. It’s a tricky situation, so Mr. Six calls in the help of his old gang to rough up these young gangsters. The story becomes an allegory of sorts, a battle between generations, different styles and perceptions of the world.
One of the difficult aspects of Mr. Six is the audience’s inability to find much sympathy with the central character. Xiaogang is an able actor, for sure. The issue is that the movie is populated by gangsters, both old and new, and it’s difficult to say one’s form of violence is better than another’s. Is it too cheesy to say: Why can’t we all get along? Peace and compromise are never even considered.
Also, the plot device of a scratched Lamborghini seems a bit minimal to start an all-out war, but again these are people who live a hair-trigger away from death. They have all chosen lifestyles that can have violent outcomes. Mr. Six knows this, and that’s one of the reasons he presumably wanted out. If it weren’t for his son, who he is largely estranged from, Mr. Six would be enjoying his retirement as a neighborhood protector who intimidates without the need of a sword. What changes that relative bliss is a scratch on a fancy car, which instigates a financial ultimatum that Mr. Six can’t meet and then an ultimate showdown that brings the main character back to his violent roots.
The concept is interesting, although it’s been done before, but the performance is memorable. That’s the main selling point for Mr. Six. Xiaogang is a marvel as this reformed gangster dragged back into the business of violence.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
- Mr. Six
- In Mandarin with English subtitles
- 2015
- Directed by Hu Guan
- Written by Guan and Runnian Dong
- Starring Feng Xiaogang, Zhang Hanyu, Xu Qing, Li Yefeng, Kris Wu, Liu Hua and Liang Jing
- Running time: 136 minutes
- Rating:
