THE DRUMMER

(China, 2007, d. Kenneth Bi)

With visual suggestions of symbols, mystic movement and dance, as well as drumbeats, The Drummer suggests a film exercise in Zen meditation. Then, it suddenly shifts to dance in a night club, flirting and drinking, sex and a world of gangsters and revenge familiar from so many Hong Kong films. Just when we were wondering what happened to the symbolism and whether we were just in for betrayals and shootings, the core meaning and drama of the film reveal themselves. The symbols and the drums return.

The son of a gang chief (Jaycee Chan), who enjoys playing drums in the club, has to take refuge in the mountains because a rival chief whom he has caused to lose face wants to cut off his hands. But, he hears drumbeats, a great variety of rhythms and beats and goes exploring. It is a troupe of drummers (who are also skilled acrobats) rehearsing before a world tour. This is a conversion experience and he dedicates himself to becoming a Zen drummer.

There are more complications with gangsters, double-crosses and the young man having to ask himself where the true course of his life is taking him.

The drumming is quite mesmerising as are the performances (one of which is a fantasy where the young man duets with his father). Whether the two genres combine well is still a matter of conjecture and taste. But, the ideas are very interesting and the drumming absorbing.