Johnnie To Is Back With A Vengeance
I remember the first time I caught a Johnnie To movie. The first two times, actually. I was in Toronto while the Bloor Cinema was showing a selection of Asian cinema, including two by To, Heroes Never Die and Expect The Unexpected. The further I burrowed into his catalog, the more I realized that those films weren’t flukes and that To was the kind of journeyman director we rarely see anymore, willing to take chances without sacrificing craft, and with nary a misstep.
The man puts out so many movies that I still haven’t caught up with all of them, but his latest, Vengeance, is one that I’m definitely putting at the head of the queue. Johnny Hallyday plays a former criminal turned chef who comes out of retirement and travels to Hong Kong to settle a score. Between this and Jamursch’s The Limits of Control, it looks like arthouse crime reminiscent of Neo-noir classics like Point Blank and Le Samouraï are making a comeback, though with To and Jamursch nothing is ever certain. Catch the teaser below, and feel free to chime in with your thoughts on this resurgence of international crime.
Comments (3)
I’ve seen several of Johnnie To’s films, and frankly, I’m not impressed, Steven.
I know he’s gotten acclaim for films like Breaking News, Election, and Sparrow. I haven’t seen those films. I began watching Election 2, but it’s so boring.
Perhaps I’m not a big fan of crime thrillers. I still haven’t been able to sit through Godfather Parts 1, 2 or 3. (Yeah, I know he didn’t direct these films.)
Posted by Reed Farrington on March 8th, 2009I think an affinity for crime films is usually helpful in enjoying crime films.
Posted by Wintle on March 10th, 2009Hi Wintle,
we do not know each other and I discovered your blog I’m Vince, a young guy who tweet’ about cinema (that’s my account: http://twitter.com/Moviesfollower) I don’t know when the film released in the UK/US, but I know a person who worked on the shooting of this last Johnnie To’s movie “vengeance”. He was able to get some pictures that I put on You Tube
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODQ3MDY2OTI=.html
Extract 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7UPuVQmD2A&feature=related
Extract 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgu6Ja64_qM
Extract 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRr3b-W23Rs&feature=related
The quality is not very good but we see some scenes that look cool, What do you think? I saw it on any other American website, only Twitch http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/3-behind-the-scenes-clips-for-johnnie-tos-vengeance/ so I send you this message.
All the best
Vince
Posted by Vince on April 15th, 2009Leave a Reply