Early on in this cinematic offering in which music plays a major part, The Drummer’s youthful protagonist, Sid (Jaycee Chan), is found hard at it behind a set of drums. Soon afterwards, he is shown having sex with a woman around his age (Yumiko Cheng) who, nonetheless, is dramatically revealed to be the mistress of senior gangster Stephen Ma (veteran actor Kenneth Tsang).
To put it mildly, Stephen Ma is not the kind of person to be trifled with. Yet Sid not only makes out with his woman but then adds insult to injury by cockily mouthing obscenities at the older man in front of a few of his henchmen and the woman both men profess to love. Deeply enraged, Ma demands that Sid be made to pay for his acts of recklessness. So when Sid’s father, Kwan (Tony Leung Ka Fai), a powerful triad boss, yet not as powerful as Ma, begs for his son’s life, the older man agrees to spare Sid only if Kwan literally delivers Sid’s hands to him. Rather than permanently disable his male offspring with whom he has a love-hate relationship, Kwan sends his son and trusted right-hand man, Ah Chiu (Roy Cheung), into exile in a rural part of Taiwan.
Presented as an idyllic contrast to the Hong Kong inhabited by Sid and his family, the Taiwan of The Drummer also is where the young musician comes across a drumming group whose style is as disciplined, deep and communal as his is wild, superficial and individualistic. Rather than be put off, however, Sid is strongly drawn to this ascetic troupe known as the Zen Drummers (the internationally renowned U Theatre).
Still, being the unthinking person he has to learn not to be, Sid approaches them with the attitude that he’s automatically good enough to join them and can even teach them a thing or two about drumming. Moreover, his innate frustration and anger has him beating out rhythms with such aggression that he breaks one of the Zen Drummers’ drumsticks! Despite that, his application to join them is accepted on the condition that he stays with them on their mountain – which is less than pleasing to the fiery Hong Dou (Lee Sinjie), the Zen Drummers’ last recruit before Sid...
The kind of movie that seeks to convey a serious and lasting message, The Drummer contains lines (eg “Respect the drum, please” and “The best way to learn is to teach someone else”) and sections that may strike more cynically minded viewers as hokey or, worse, ringing untrue. It also opens with a dramatic scene that pretty much screams art house, jarringly followed by a sequence that might get a critic thinking that the movie’s makers are trying too hard to be populist.
Ultimately, however, this film really does have far more going for than against it. For one thing, its cast contains a number of individuals who can carry an entire movie on their own through sheer presence, never mind acting ability. For another, cinematographer Sam Koa’s work has made the film very attractive to watch. And then there is the stirring soundtrack that’s well capable of sending spirits soaring, getting the blood pumping and nurturing the understanding why some people would be inspired to dedicate their lives to perfecting Zen drumming.
Yvonne Teh
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