The Laundryman

青田街一号

Taiwan, 2015, colour, 2.35:1, 110 mins.

Director: Li Zhong 李中.

Rating: 5/10.

Wannabe black comedy centred on a haunted hitman runs on empty for most of the time.

STORY

Taibei, the present day. Posing as one of his former pupils, a professional hitman (Zhang Xiaoquan) kills an old crammer teacher (Lin Zhiru) in a public park and then disposes of the body at Xinmei Laundry, a large dry cleaning factory. Xinmei’s owner, Gu (Sui Tang), gives him a new assignment, which involves him dressing up as a woman and killing an S&M client (Gao Mengjie) at a brothel. For the pst six months, the hitman has been having worsening visions of his victims, and he’s suffering badly from lack of sleep. Gu recommends an offbeat medium/exorcist, Lin Xiang (Wan Qian), who operates from a gaming bar. When the hitman visits her, she immediately sees the phantoms accompanying him and diagnoses him as having too much bad karma. Using her magic necklace, she gets rid of one (the S&M client) but runs off scared when the hitman explains what his job is. Before leaving, however, she says he must find out who ordered his victims’ deaths if he wants to shake off the phantoms for good. Gu refuses to divulge the information but the hitman finds it on her computer. The hitman and Lin Xiang visit the man, a quiet modelmaker, who ordered the S&M client’s death and hear his story. Later he ends up dead, and an old detective Tang Wuxiong (Cai Mingxiu) and his younger deputy Yang Yingying (Yang Yanyan) investigate. The hitman and Lin Xiang then trace the petty gangster son (Shi Mingshuai) who ordered his own parents’ death and hear his story. He also ends up dead. From a business card found at the scene of the first crime, Tang Wuxiong tracks down the laundry and its owner, Gu; her real name turns out to be Ou Ruihua, and she has an interesting past as a psychiatric doctor at a sanatorium. When Tang Wuxiong visits her, she denies all knowledge of the victims. But things soon escalate as Gu takes measures to protect herself.

REVIEW

A wannabe black comedy about a hitman who’s haunted by the ghosts of his victims, The Laundryman 青田街一号 aims for a kind of off-hand humour that’s entertaining for a while before the whole film starts imploding from its lack of content and poorly constructed script. A nice idea for a 30-minute short, but running on empty as a 110-minute feature, this first feature by Taibei-born writer-director Li Zhong 李中 isn’t helped by a spectacularly unfocused performance from Taiwan’s Zhang Xiaoquan 张孝全 [Joseph Chang] as the tormented assassin and a gratingly unfunny one by Mainland actress Wan Qian 万茜 as a medium/exorcist who tries to help him. Not for the first time in her relatively short screen career, it’s Taiwan model-turned-actress Sui Tang 随堂 who gives the film a touch of class it doesn’t really deserve, as well as an extra point out of 10.

Li, who studied film at Columbia University, New York, and previously directed the feature-length documentary Lanlin Theatre Troupe 兰陵剧坊 (2011), co-wrote the script with Taiwan director Chen Yuxun 陈玉勋 (Zone Pro Site 总铺师, 2013) who’s also credited as editing consultant. There are glimpses of the wacky flavour of Chen’s first two comedies, Tropical Fish 热带鱼 (1995) and Love Go Go 爱情来了 (1997), as well as his use of saturated colours; but they’re only passing moments, not style markers, and if Chen’s name was not in the credits they wouldn’t even be noticed.

As the original idea starts to run out of steam after 45 minutes, Chen and Li don’t seem to have any idea where to take it, instead resorting to some ludicrous backstory on the villainness to keep the narrative going. When the screenplay finally throws up its hands at the 85-minute point and settles for a bloodbath ending, it’s hard to care what happens to any of the protagonists. The film has a strain of lackadaisical, juvenile humour (as distinct from properly developed comedy) that’s typical of many of Taiwan’s younger generation of directors. But Laundryman‘s biggest fault is that it never clearly signals what it is, and can’t sustain any of its many moods for more than a couple of scenes. Put it next to a smartly written and played crime comedy like Sweet Alibis 甜蜜杀机 (2014), by Taiwan writer-director Lian Yiqi 连奕琦 (Make Up 命运化妆师, 2011), and Laundryman‘s shortcomings are plain on almost every level.

Not a commanding actor at the best of times, Zhang can’t anchor an unfocused movie like this and, whether deliberate or not, ends up looking as if he doesn’t know what’s going on, either. His comic moments come and go – some fast-talking patter here, some smart physical action there – but he never gets close to drawing a character the audience can get involved with. As the medium who’s meant to be helping him exorcise his demons, Wan, who was good as the lead’s classy love interest in Paradise in Service 军中乐园 (2014), is just annoying here, asked to switch between hysterical patter, hard-nosed practicality and girly stuff – though she is believable as a Taiwan floating leaf.

In a role that appears only in the second half, Malaysian Chinese actress Yang Yanyan 杨雁雁 [Yeo Yann Yann], who played the wife in Ilo Ilo 爸妈不在家 (2013), also manages to look authentically Taiwanese and bring some flecks of character to an underwritten role before being plunged straight into the finale. But it’s Sui who brings some real class to the film, as the hitman’s boss who turns out to be a very nasty piece of work indeed. The 35-year-old model-turned-actress has consistently made a stylish mark in her brief film career (Make Up; The Fierce Wife 犀利人妻˳ – 最终回 – 幸福男•不难, 2012; Together 甜•祕密, 2012) and does the same here as an ice-cool contractor, even though she’s not called upon to be much more than a pulpy villainness. Her action scenes, supervised by South Korea’s experienced Yang Gil-yeong 양길영 | 梁吉泳 and Seo Seung-eok 서승억 | 徐承亿, are pretty electric and even manage to convince vs. Zhang’s hitman, who’s earlier shown he’s no slouch in fighting.

Widescreen photography by Hou Xiaoxian 侯孝贤 alumnus and jack-of-all-trades Yao Hongyi 姚宏易  (Reflections 爱丽丝的镜子, 2005) is punched-up naturalistic and often resonant, but without any consistent look. Yao also leads the team of four editors. The film’s Chinese title, which means “No. 1, Qingtian Street”, is explained in the latter stages.

CREDITS

Presented by 1 Production Film (TW), Central Motion Picture Corporation (TW), Jet Tone Films (Taiwan) (TW), Lucky Royal (TW), Warner Bros. (Far East) (Taiwan branch) (TW). Produced by 1 Production Film (TW).

Script: Chen Yuxun, Li Zhong. Original story: Li Zhong. Photography: Yao Hongyi. Editing: Yao Hongyi, Yang Weixin, Xie Mengru, Jiang Yining. Editing advice: Chen Yuxun. Music: Wen Zijie. Art direction: Wang Zhicheng. Styling: Xu Liwen. Sound: Gao Weiyan, Guo Liqi. Action: Yang Gil-yeong, Seo Seung-eok. Visual effects: Lin Zhemin (Bulky Animation Studio).

Cast: Zhang Xiaoquan [Joseph Chang] (hitman/”No. 1, Qingtian Street”), Sui Tang (Gu/Ou Ruihua, doctor), Wan Qian (Lin Xiang/”No. 6, Dongda Road”), Yang Yanyan [Yeo Yann Yann] (Yang Yingying, police detective), Zhang Xiaohuai (model-maker), Gao Mengjie (S&M client), Zeng Peiyu (phantom young woman), Lin Zhiru (old teacher), Li Guanyi (boy), Wu Beiji (phantom Mr. Chen), Li Lie (headless phantom), Cai Mingxiu (Tang Wuxiong, elderly police detective), Xu Pingtai (gangster in bar), Xu Wanshan (model-maker’s chubby female neighbour), Xu Chengwei (Zhu), Shi Mingshuai (Xiaobao, Mr. Chen’s unfilial son), Zhang Zhengjian (sanatorium head), Zhang Bozhi (young “No. 1, Qingtian Street”), Cao Youxin (young “No. 6, Dongda Road”).

Premiere: Taipei Film Festival (Taipei Film Awards: Narrative Features), 11 Jul 2015.

Release: Taiwan, 20 Aug 2015.