Triangle (鐵三角). 2007. Hong Kong. Directed by Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, Johnnie To. With Simon Yam, Louis Koo, Sun Honglei, Kelly Lin, Gordon Lam Ka-tung, Lam Suet. 35mm courtesy Magnolia Pictures. In Cantonese and Mandarin; English subtitles. 93 min.
In an audacious experiment in collaborative filmmaking, three titans of Hong Kong cinema—Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, and Johnnie To—each directed a segment of this wildly convoluted heist film, centered on three friends (Simon Yam, Louis Koo, and Sun Honglei) who hatch a plan to steal a fortune in gold hidden beneath the Legislative Council Building. Their friendship is tested by outside forces, including an unfaithful wife (Kelly Lin), a scheming cop (Gordon Lam), and a rural amphetamine addict (To regular Lam Suet). Each director worked independently with their own writers and technical crews, bringing their distinctive style to their segment: Tsui’s operatic energy, Lam’s claustrophobic realism, and To’s meticulous compositions and dry wit. Triangle is both a showcase for the individual talents of its directors and a fascinating cinematic extension of the Surrealists’ “exquisite corpse” game.