Film Name: 龙在江湖 / A True Mob Story / 龍在江湖
The plot is actually pretty cliché—it must be an older film. I stumbled upon it while channel-surfing, and it had already been playing for a while. Still, I stuck around just for Andy Lau and Gigi Leung. As expected, I ended up crying my eyes out at the end. Just like when I watched Andy Lau and Carina Lau’s “If Sky Have Love” or Jacky Cheung and Faye Wong’s “God of Gamblers” way back when, I couldn’t help but sob uncontrollably at the tragic ending where the male lead, a street thug, meets a violent death and the lovers are torn apart.
All these years later, I still have no resistance to this kind of sentimental film, even though I know its formula and structure inside out. Andy Lau truly delivered a remarkable performance, especially in the middle section. As a small-time thug no longer eager to kill for the gang yet still struggling to survive within it, he portrayed cowardice and weakness. Bullied and framed, he couldn’t even stand up for his woman with conviction in critical moments, instead dodging and ducking. Afterwards, he endured endless apologies and beatings… He brings Wei Jixiang—a washed-up gangster who’s become a father, lost his youthful vigor, yet still clings to his pride—to vivid life. You can’t help but sigh at his pathetic state while also feeling helpless about his predicament.
But what truly made me want to write about a film for the first time was the character of Sandy, the lawyer played by Gigi Leung—a clichéd angel sent to the thug protagonist. Meeting as lawyer and client, she from the heavens and he from the underworld, they came from different worlds and should never have fallen in love. Perhaps what exists between them isn’t true love, but mutual salvation; or perhaps this very act of mutual rescue is love itself? I don’t know. All I know is that this mutual rescue might lie in Wei Jixiang awakening the suppressed passion beneath Sandy’s rational exterior and seemingly perfect love. As she tells him in their final farewell, “I’ve only ever felt this way for you, and I know I never will again…” while she awakened the entire buried Wei Jixiang.
From the moment they were hunted by Wei’s enemies, when Wei momentarily mistook the falling Sandy for his beloved wife Achuan, who had fallen beneath his enemies’ car years ago, and cried out in shock; from his desperate leap onto a motorcycle he hadn’t ridden in years to carry her to safety—he had become the Xiang Ge of old, and she too was momentarily moved; Before fleeing, he risked his life to reach her, desperate to know if she truly cared for him, refusing to die with that uncertainty. She, like a true savior, cleared his name, fiercely defended him in court, gave false testimony, even humiliating her police boyfriend Michael (played by Fang Zhongxin), who was targeting Wei…
She was a rational woman. Like the night before the trial, when Michael pleaded with her not to defend Wei, warning that Wei would end up dead on the streets sooner or later. “I know,” she said. Michael urged, “Stay out of Wei’s business. After this case, we’ll go back to Canada and get married. You’re a rational person. Think it through…”
Michael would never understand why she, a woman of reason, did such irrational things for this irrational love.
She’s a lawyer—how could she be irrational? But I think it was precisely because she was always so rational that she treasured that rare moment of uncontrollable emotion. Yet she also knew all along that there was no future for them. When Wei Jixiang, released from court, pushed through crowds and streets to chase after her as she slipped away, she said, “What’s the point of chasing me? Even if we were together, it would only last a year or two before we inevitably parted. So why be together at all… I want us to smile when we think of each other in our old age… I’ll look at you one last time, just one last time, and then I’ll never look back…”
My heart shattered. Perhaps. Perhaps it resonated deeply. The failure and greatness of many women lies in throwing themselves headlong into that irresistible stirrings of the heart—both its ecstasy and agony. Like in “Eyes Wide Shut,” when Nicole Kidman describes her mental infidelity to her husband during a vacation—that chance encounter with a stranger, an officer, who merely glanced at her. That single glance electrified her, leaving her paralyzed. From that moment, she couldn’t stop thinking about him, even while passionately discussing their future with their daughter Helena: “… I thought, if he wanted me, even if it was for only one night, I was ready to give up everything: you (her husband), Helena, and my whole fucking future, everything.”
Perhaps many women who seem happy harbor such reckless desires deep within. They’ve been immersed in that semblance of happiness for so long that when long-dormant passion is unexpectedly ignited, they might even risk shattering that tepid contentment to cherish it.
But the cost of shattering the status quo is immense. Nicole said that after a sleepless night, she woke up anxious, unsure whether to feel hopeful or worried about the stranger’s departure. When she learned he had left, she felt a wave of relief wash over her.
Knowing it was like a moth flying into a flame, the reckless cost must still be borne; yet knowing she would still throw herself into it without hesitation, undaunted by setbacks, only then would her heart’s stirrings not be in vain, only then would she not live with regret for the rest of her life.
Sandy handled it perfectly, I thought. She didn’t passively give up everything just because she fell in love. Perhaps she had once been lost in that irresistible feeling, until the moment the court adjourned. Ruby, who had always held deep affection for Wei Jixiang, pleaded with her to do everything possible to clear his name, revealing that she and Wei had been together for over a month… Perhaps only then did Sandy pull herself out of the world she had been lost in, realizing she didn’t belong there. Or perhaps she had never been lost at all. Regardless, before doing everything she could for him—everything she knew he wanted—she saw clearly: falling in love meant taking responsibility for it. She was willing to sacrifice for him, for this relationship. But truly, this love belonged to her, not to this man. They could only save each other momentarily before returning to their separate worlds, savoring memories.
So on the street, she could only glance back at her lover one last time with reluctance, tears streaming down her face as she walked away. Wei could only watch her depart with sorrow. He knew she was right; he had no power to hold her back. He loved her, yet he knew she wasn’t his woman—he couldn’t afford her.
And this was not merely a parting in life, but a farewell in death. After she turned and took a few steps, Wei was struck down by his enemies. He watched his beloved fade into the crowd, never calling her back, even as he died. She had vowed never to look back, and she truly did not. Perhaps—perhaps she knew something had happened. It was only a few steps away, a murder on the street, cries of alarm amid the chaos. Yet she did not turn. She knew she could not, could not recklessly plunge back into his world. She had to save herself. Having made a pact with herself, she would honor it. She had saved him to save her own sinking self, but she could not let this redemption become a new descent into ruin…
And he understood, didn’t he? Unable to give his beloved woman happiness, he could only hope for her happiness—even if it meant letting her leave his world, even if it meant dying behind her without her knowing… So he was worthy.
Then so be it. Better to forget each other in the vast world than cling together in mutual dependence. In this life, how many sorrows are so beautiful, and how many beauties are so sorrowful. Grateful for having encountered those beauties—and if fate denies holding them, then take solace in how those sorrows forged such eternal, profound beauty. No evasion, no stinginess, no regrets, and finally, no looking back. That is all.
Please specify：Anime Phone Cases » A True Mob Story 1998 Film Review: Let us forget each other in the vast world.