Streaming Quick Picks: Johnnie To
While we often tie these posts into our Madfilm Meetups or any number of programs from other local venues, there are times when we want to highlight other filmmakers outside of events in a theater near you. This week, we look at the work of Hong Kong director Johnnie To Kei-Fung.
When I think of Hong Kong action, my first thought is not John Woo. It’s Johnnie To. Take a look at some of his films and it’s easy to see why. Sure, there is much to love about action classics like The Killer and Hard Boiled, but I would rapidly mention To’s The Mission and Exiled in the same breath as those more well known movies. In his action films, To manages to situate the most intense gun battles within a mode of cinematic staging that is unparalleled in its grace and precision. For To, the placement of each character in the frame, especially in the stillness before or between shootouts, is every bit as crucial as the sudden bursts of violence. In short, he doesn’t stage bullet ballets; he plays pistol chess.
More than this, though, To is a filmmaker who is equally at home with comedy as he is with dramatic action. For example, if you are in the mood for a lighthearted love letter to the nouvelle vague—one with a pickpocket duel in the rain, at that—take a look at the wonderful Sparrow. For comedies about physical transformation (i.e. something quite the opposite of, say, a David Cronenberg film), check out the peculiar Running on Karma and the utterly charming and hilarious Love on a Diet (the latter of which is, unfortunately, not listed below). I know of no western director who is so adeptly able to flip the switch between steely cool and silly fun, but To reliably does so with an unusual ease.
One of his latest films, Drug War, which you’ll find below, was a recent favorite of mine from the Wisconsin Film Festival. In fact, the WFF has played a number of To’s films at various festivals past (PTU, Exiled, Life Without Principle). Drug War is a smartly made film about smart people who are constantly trying to outsmart each other. Add dashes of social relevance and action sequences that transition from the beautiful to the realistically brutal, and you’ve got one of the best gangster films of the past several years. Amidst a plethora of rote thrillers, Drug War truly thrills, not just with its action but with its intelligence as well.
We’ve provided a few films that should give you a solid primer for Johnnie To’s work, which is varied and voluminous. Beyond what is listed below, if you can find them, I highly recommend Fat Choi Spirit, an unforgettable mahjong comedy, Running out of Time, in which a man who has two weeks to live leads the police on a merry chase around Hong Kong, and The Mission, which I mentioned earlier and which is simply one of the best action films ever made. We rely on a variety of sources for these (Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, iTunes), and we have, as always, also supplied links to our good friends from the Madison Public Library and Four Star Video Coop.
The Madison Film Forum wants you to stream or rent one great film a week, attend at least one great film a month, and meet people doing the same. Whether you have never seen a Johnnie To film or, like me, need more than two hands to count the number of times you’ve seen The Mission, I can’t recommend his work enough. Be sure to share your thoughts on any of the films in the comments section.
