Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1986: Chow Yun-Fat in A Better Tomorrow

Chow Yun-fat did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Mark Lee aka Brother Mark in A Better Tomorrow. 

A Better Tomorrow follows the somewhat convoluted story of an ex-gangster dealing with his family and his old gang ties. 

I’ll admit I had a slightly strange experience watching A Better Tomorrow where I found it just kind of unfocused and clunky, then suddenly quite captivating and stylish. When it was the latter it almost always corresponded with when Chow Yun-Fat is on screen as Brother Mark essentially the best friend/enforcer for the ex-gangster. Something that Chow just owns naturally with such a fantastic cool to his performance, particularly in his earliest scenes where indeed his lighting his cigarette with a counterfeit bill is just a certain kind of cinematic cool that is difficult to achieve. Chow matches the idea and despite being the supporting character here, is the one who comes to life with the striking presence of the proper cool gangster we’d want to follow as he takes on a more nefarious mobster. Chow, for me, very much is the film as it also came to life when he walked on screen each time, partially because Brother Mark seems to move the plot forward in the most compelling fashion, but also because of that presence of Chow’s. Something however that is a mix of badass with a few other elements because it isn’t just the wielding two guns in the and firing, as cool as that is and as well as Chow performs those moments. 

It is around those moments where Chow actually shines, such as the scene where he goes in guns ablazin’, however first setting up some additional guns for himself as he casually walks in. A moment where Chow makes much with the little grin of his in his planting, knows exactly what he’s doing and plays a bit of fun in the moment, before unleashing his fury in the actual gunfight, which is both him shooting down fools and getting injured in return fire. Something where we get the other side of his performance which is presenting some vulnerability, less emotionally but just physically as he literally gets shot. Afterwards then reflecting that state within the character where as much as Chow must be functional at times in terms of progressing the plot you are granted a bit more for his portrayal of Brother Mark’s increasing critical nature as he interacts with a fundamental determination in his moments. Chow’s performance moves from just cool to more so granting the gravity of the situation as the tensions overall raise, to the point Mark is even beaten severely where Chow shows the physical pain combined though with that quiet certainty of his conviction and loyalty regardless. Leading to eventually the final battle where Chow is again great as an action performer in very much selling the action in every little beat he is giving with this time greater intensity and less of an overt cool as he goes about mowing down the gangster’s men one by one. Chow successfully depicts this progression of his character largely through action and creates a compelling character that consistently anchored me to this story despite being a supporting character. In a way it suggests director John Woo figuring out that Chow was the person he always should’ve been focused on in his later films by the promise shown by Chow here.