Choice, Chaos, and the Birth of Milkyway Cool

Hong Kong Category 3 film Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 is one of Qunquentin tarantino’s favourably imitator, and for good reason. It’s Groundhog Day on steroid, a blood-soaked gangster version of Sliding Door, and the very film that first gave us a cinematic glimpse into the Milkyway Image style.

Directed by Wai Ka-fai and starring the powerhouse trio of Lau Ching-wan, Francis Ng, and Ruby Wong, the film kicks off with a tight, obsessive close-up on a watch. The camera then drifts to a palm, cuts to A Gau’s (Lau Ching-wan) eyes, and zooms out to reveal a classic Hong Kong street side destiny check: a palm reading.

We can’t hear any conversation between A Gau and fortune teller, instead we are treated to that quirky music we can find it in many Milkyway’s films. A Gau is visibly heavy-hearted after destiny check, wandering the streets until he bumps into Bo, another small-time but think big hoodlum.

Bo pitches a grand plan, a perfect team including A Gau and the volatile Matt (Francis Ng) to make it big. They’re going to steal five Mercedes-Benzes, sell them in Mainland China, and strike it rich, or never show their faces in Hong Kong again. Naturally, after such a life-changing decision, the gang decides that they have to head to a massage parlor for a soak.

And it’s right there, amidst the steam, the towels, the girls and who pays the bill, that the narrative splits, sending our ‘heroes’ down two very different paths.”

dangerous Rate: ★★★★★

In one path, the gang heads to mainland China, following Bo’s plan to the letter. Well, not exactly, since no one expects that A Gau, for all his ambitious rascality, actually can’t drive. That’s one less Mercedes-Benz delivered right off the bat. From there, this storyline goes south fast, and the mission devolves into a catastrophic fiasco. In another path, the gang heads to Taichung, and this time it’s Matt who calls the shots with a major gig in Taiwan. The story isn’t getting less absurd but the outcome changes. Against all odds, A Gau emerges as a highly respected figure and climbs to the top of the food chain, even though he can barely move his lips after talking a bullet to the head.

Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 is one of the most stylized and experimental film from Milkway. It’s cinematographically daring (there’s flaunting dizzying 180 degree flips!) and excessive wide lens, long takes that echo the Wong Kar-war style in 90s Hong Kong. The restaurant shootout in the Taichung storyline is a stroke of genius. With the lights cut, the sequence becomes visually striking, resembling a gritty 70s disco. Each flash of gunfire captures the beat, turning a bloodbath into a rhythmic and choreographed nightmare.

Released in 1997, the film underperformed at the box office, perhaps being a bit too ‘ahead of its time’ for the audiences. It’s hard not to over-analyse the choice of two cities, one in Mainland China and the other one in Taiwan as deliberate symbols, even if Wai Ka-fai explicitly said that, “We chose Taichung because it felt suitable.” Yet, 1997 was a pivotal crossroads for both Hong Kong and Milkyway Image, a time of identity crisis and soul-searching. In the end, as the film suggests, the future isn’t dictated by where they go, but by the essence of who they are. After all, too many ways to be No.1.

If you want to see this film on big screen, click like and let us know