The Angst in Gangster: Johnnie To

Map It:  Silver Spring 

THE FILMMAKER WAS HANDED the symbolism on a silver platter: Imagine a crime organization in which the leaders are elected by a vote. Now extrapolate this idea and look at all the surfaces it makes resonate — crime, democracy, corruption, deal-making, people-pleasing and power — and make a couple of the most intelligent, brutal thrillers in Hong Kong history.

Director Johnnie To is well-versed in the black arts of Hong Kong thrillers. His many films (here's an aesthete in a hurry) showcase the slam-bang action, high body count and inventive narratives of the genre and are admirably stylized.

But 2005's "Election" and the new "Triad Election" (sometimes called "Election 2") show To's sensibility to its best advantage. They are both playing at AFI Silver through June 28, and it's worth seeing them together to take note of To's evolution from film to film — from guy jazzed on a keen idea to a master in control of every filament and thread of that idea.

Loosely speaking, the films involve the process by which powerful "uncles" assume the chairmanship of a triad for a two-year term. If "Election" is raucous, gory and often very funny (a tussle over a stick of wood is at once laughable and a life-and-or-death struggle), "Election Triad" is plangent and inescapably tragic. More political film than crime drama, more human than gonzo, it gives the bad guys at the center what so many movies fail to — a soul.

» AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; through June 28; 301-495-6700. (Silver Spring)

Photo courtesy Tartan Films