A gangster undergoes a family-friendly makeover in Sylvia Chang's Run Papa Run, an epic Hong Kong comedy-drama spanning decades and rising out of a chance encounter. The great change kicks off when Lee Tin-yun (Louis Koo), a rough-and-tumble triad who’s running into scrapes with the law, finds instant love with Mabel (René Liu), a wide-eyed lawyer on her first day at work. When she falls pregnant after a whirlwind romance, Tin-yun proposes to marry her and so begins an awkward yet loving partnership.
The catch is, Tin-yun can't merely continue his old ways with Mabel, a devout Catholic, and his new daughter around, and his underworld background isn't winning over his wife's upper-class parents either. As he rises in the gangland ranks to control large swathes of Hong Kong, he decides to hide his line of work from the girl, clean up his foul language and get involved in a more respectable-looking business. Even his tough-guy tattoos need to be concealed for fear of scaring the child. But can Tin-yun truly juggle the conflicting sides of his life, or does he need to make more drastic changes for the sake of his wife and daughter?
Ominously opening with a funeral, then jumping back in time to Tin-yun and Mabel's comical first encounter in a police station, Chang's latest film as writer-director soon settles into a zippy mix of comedy, drama, fantasy and song. The father is a laid-back and swaggering sort, even breaking the fourth wall to chat with the audience and let his thoughts be known. Once his awkward relationship with his long-disappointed mother is established, Tin-yun becomes one of the most colourful yet tragic of recent screen characters. And as he tries to adapt to new circumstances, he personifies a wider Hong Kong character, making a series of cosmetic and fundamental fixes in a bid to move forward with the times. Even the city, too, is a changing player, with people commenting on its changes over the years.
The opening comedy, however, segues into quieter and more personal drama once Tin-yun's apparent inability to back out of his gang life means that juggling work and family responsibility becomes an increasingly difficult affair. As humour and fantasy elements recede, and the triad's relationship with the initially forgiving Mabel becomes strained, Chang's drama adopts a more reserved pace to reflect the transformation.
Playing the central character, actor Louis Koo is in his prime, appearing cocky, conflicted and personable as he goes about his onscreen evolution. René Liu offers an intriguing presence as the supportive wife who puts up with his lifestyle, while several young actresses capably handle the role of Haiyi, the daughter, over different ages. Longtime fans of Hong Kong cinema will also be in for a treat when it comes to spotting screen veterans and other film-industry figures, with the likes of Nora Miao, Ti Lung, Susan Shaw, Michael Chan and Fruit Chan putting in sometimes delightful supporting turns.
Tim Youngs