Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.
There are a few smaller films that are rolling out in limited release right now that are worth a conversation, and I’ve been slow in writing about both of them. Still, for many of you, these aren’t open yet, so let’s catch up with them now.
Johnnie To deserves to be included in the pantheon of great Asian action filmmakers at this point, and I think I respect him even more because he hasn’t made the jump to Hollywood movies even though I’m sure that opportunity has presented itself at least once or twice. So often, it seems like the only way a filmmaker can be taken seriously is by jumping ship and going for the giant budgets and the movie stars. But To has resisted that siren song and continues to turn out two or even three films a year (he’s made 20 since the year 2000), and the results, more often than not, are as good as the work anyone’s doing in the genre anywhere.
EXILED is an excellent example. For fans of To’s earlier film THE MISSION, this is a reunion of sorts. Much of the cast is the same, but it’s not a sequel. It covers much of the same ground that ELECTION and TRIAD ELECTION covered, but it never feels like a rehash. There are themes at play here that he’s explored over and over, but he continues to find new ways to deal with these ideas, just as he always finds fresh ways to build amazing gunplay sequences. I like that this time out, he’s left behind the overtly political nature of the storytelling in the two ELECTION films to focus on a story of brotherhood, betrayal, and duty. The results are dynamic and riveting, and they showcase the very best of what To has to offer as a filmmaker.
Nick Cheung stars as Wo, and the entire film pivots around him. He was chased out of Macau over a situation that erupted between him and crimelord Boss Fay, but as the film opens, he’s moved back to town with his wife and his baby. The opening scene has two different teams of men show up at Wo’s apartment. Two of them are there to protect him. Two of them are there to kill him. It’s a simple, striking start to what becomes a wild ride by film’s end.
By now, the Hong Kong gunfight is a cliché, but To continues to innovate in his work, and no matter how many of these you’ve seen, the work here is breathtaking. There’s a rough, dangerous quality to it, and I’m always amazed when I see a sequence that seems to evoke real peril in a film like this. To makes great use of location in his action sequences. A field flooded with sunlight. The stairs of an apartment complex. An atrium. These aren’t exotic locations, but To makes each one of them memorable with the way he choreographs his sequences, the way he bends time with slow-motion. You’ll never look at a can of Red Bull the same way after you see the climax of this film. And if you’re a spaghetti western freak like I am, the score for this one is a special treat.
EXILED may not reinvent action cinema, but if you’re like me, it may restore your faith in the idea that there is virtue in respecting a genre and doing it well.
If it’s possible to admire a film without liking a film, then John August seems to have perfected the formula as far as my own reactions are concerned. I know many people who love GO, but I thought it was sort of an empty exercise. Likewise, BIG FISH hits a lot of people dead center, people whose opinions I enjoy and frequently share. I can see how someone might go for it, especially the father-son stuff, but it just leaves me cold.
Now THE NINES strikes me much the same way. August makes his directorial debut here, and it’s a very, very personal movie for him. Much of the film is shot in and around his house, and he was careful to not decorate the house for the movie. Instead, he just used the house exactly as it was. August seems to be working from a very instinctual place here as a writer, and from a very clinical place as a director. The result is a very formal film that plays as loose with reality as a typical Lynch film. August tips his hand a little too much, in my opinion, towards the end of the movie, when he offers up some pretty concrete answers about things, and I think when he does lay out the philosophy of his movie, it’s the sort of thing that is of great interest to... well... guys who are consistently employed writing studio features and network pilots, guys who are approved show runners looking for their personal syndication train, that thing they’ll be able to ride into retirement.
I have no doubt that August is sincere in terms of what he’s saying... I’m just not sure how much any audience is going to relate to what it is that August ultimately tries to say. There’s a publicist I’ve been dealing with on this movie, and she is, to put it bluntly, fucking buggy in love with this movie. I always like it when you talk to a publicist who is so obviously biased towards one out of the nine things they’re representing at any given moment. You can tell when someone’s enthusiasm goes above and beyond what the company requires. And I think there are some people who might find that they get really buzzed off of THE NINES, who get their minds blown and who connect with it on a sort of quasi-spiritual level. I think August is definitely reaching for that feeling in the way he structures the movie. How much you think he succeeds will pretty much sum up how good you think the film is overall.
I’ve got an obscene number of reviews to get through this weekend, including my take on the new Cronenberg, JESSE JAMES, and a horror film that comes out in a few months that packs one hell of a punch. So no time to linger... I’ll be back later tonight with more for you.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
