TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1 (Wai Ka-fai, 1997) remains the most exhilarating deconstruction of the gangster genre ever made: exit the romantic kinetics of Heroic Bloodshed, the looming handover back to China plunges triads into disarray. Search for identity in form and substance.

The film uses a narrative fork to split the story in 2 possible outcomes for the protagonist: he either deals with mainland China and dies, or he goes to Taiwan, goes up the triad ranks, and becomes a cripple. A way to say the future of Hong Kong lies with neither countries.

Rarely has a film used such aggressive camera work to paint the picture of a world at a complete loss. The violence comes from the camera itself, as it hits goons, entraps the characters, defines the way they evolve in their environment.

The characters are all apathetic. They make stupid decisions, have short episodes of bravery, then act like children again. Some think they exist because they wear brands or make a ton of money. It's a harsh, pessimistic way of looking at Hong Kong's escape towards materialism.

Watching TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1 is a unique experience that can take you places you hadn't imagined existed. It's a study of genre, a formal tour-de-force, a masterpiece of metadiscursive cinema. And it's available nowhere. Absolutely nowhere.

DVDs/LaserDiscs have been out of print for years. Going for 100-400 dollars on eBay, and like 700 on Amazon, if not more. The film isn't streaming anywhere.

Until someone decides to give it the Blu-ray treatment (which I hope will happen soon), TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1 can only exist through alternative means, and it should. We need to keep talking about great films. We can't allow them to be forgotten.