The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

Saw The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, a film from the 70s about a man who owns a not-very-hot strip club.  It's desultory and cheap, more the Kit Kat Klub than the Moulin Rouge.  The owner swans around with his girls, being the king of his little tawdry kingdom, mostly in close-shots which leave him looking bored, isolated, his giant face floating in the darkness looking down at his drink, or whatever.  He seems to be in a place of decadence, knowing that his girls only put up with him for the paycheck, but enjoying the simulated attention in any case.  He seems self indulgent and self loathing.

This starts to change when he's forced by gambling debts to murder the titular Chinese bookie.  This bookie is some sort of important person in the underworld and soon the nightclub owner is the subject of assassination attempts and sinister car rides, beatings and threats.  But, critically, the camera zooms out at this point and the nightclub owner comes alive.  As he struggles against the gangsters, he takes more of an interest in the world.  His nightclub picks up, and we can see him talking to people, moving to shots which place him in the middle distance, we see him more embedded in the world.

The film seems to suggest that this guy just needed something to struggle against to wake up and rediscover the thrill of the hustle.  It's sort of unfortunate that some bookie-murder was apparently the panacea that was called for, but I suppose it's more interesting than the more conventional subjects these films use to bring their protagonists back to life (ie: orphans, girlfriends, retarded relatives, talking animals, etc)

There's also a bit at the end where the nightclub owners lectures his girls on the power of fantasy and pretend.  It's a piece which feels very much like the director is talking to us.  Like the nightclub owner, the film director is the king of his little temporary empire.  There will always be bigger fish which he has to duck and deal with, but this little corner is his, and he wants to entertain people.

The film is very 1970s.  It's slow and full of grainy closeups.  Naturalistic dialogue trickles out at a relaxed pace.  The feel of the film is fairly relaxing and mild, in spite of its plot.  It's an interesting film.  Not really a slam dunk of a popcorn film, but not an inaccessible headscratcher either.  It's a nice, sincere little 1970s film.