With Election and Triad Election (Election 2), Johnnie To has created what some are calling The Godfather of Hong Kong cinema.

Election is set among the Wo Sing, the highly respected Triad clan of Hong Kong. It’s time to elect a new leader and a rivalry emerges between the two best candidates: Lok, a wise, cautious man favored by the elders; and Big D, his fiery aggessive counterpart who refuses to concede. The struggle becomes violent when the clan’s power symbol, the Dragon Head Baton, is stolen.

While the film is filled to the brim with action, it’s the spontaneity of the performances and the subtle human drama reflecting themes of Hong Kong’s transitions from British to Chinese rule that make Election a vital viewing experience. Tradition and discipline are superceded by power and greed in this powerful begninning to a story of honor among thieves.

Set two years after the events portrayed in Election, To’s follow-up picks up when the next election is ready to occur. Jimmy (Koo), is a new gangster (he has an MBA) and uses the Triads to fast-track his way to financial success. If he wins the election, he can solidify his success on the mainland and consolidate his growing power.

Jimmy is naively surprised by the violence necessary to take power in the Wo Sing. What fascinates in Triad Election is the realistic view To takes toward the mechanics of a gangster’s way of life. Action is interspresed with intense negotiation (a rarity in an action film, showing that the brain is as important as gun skill).

The conclusion to this visceral set of films brings Hong Kong back to its glory. Once at the apex of Asian cinema, Hong Kong has seen the works of Taiwanese, Thai, and Korean filmmakers move around them. But Johnnie To has been around for some time, and if anyone can bring Hong Kong cinema back to glory, it’s To.

The enigmatic and elegant Exiled takes Johnnie To from Hong Kong to the former Portugese colony of Macau upon the eve of its transition to Chinese rule.

Wo has decided to leave his criminal life behind him and wants to live peacefully with his family. But fate intervenes in the form of two hit men (and former friends) who are assigned to take him out. Thanks to the former friendship, Wo’s potential assassins agree to give him one more chance to do a job to provide for his soon-to-be widow and their newborn baby.

More about the male ego than the bullets that fly freely throughout, Exiled is a beautifully stylized, unique take on the standard Asian action film. Wm. Brian Owens