love

Poll

What's your favorite film by Johnnie To?

haven't seen any
8 (29.6%)
don't like any
1 (3.7%)
other
1 (3.7%)
The Big Heat
0 (0%)
All About Ah-Long
0 (0%)
Justice, My Foot!
0 (0%)
The Barefoot Kid
0 (0%)
The Heroic Trio
0 (0%)
The Mad Monk
0 (0%)
Heroic Trio 2: Executioners
0 (0%)
Lifeline
0 (0%)
A Hero Never Dies
0 (0%)
Where a Good Man Goes
0 (0%)
Hidden War (Running Out of Time)
2 (7.4%)
The Mission
1 (3.7%)
Needing You...
0 (0%)
Thin Body Man Woman (Love on a Diet)
0 (0%)
Fulltime Killer
0 (0%)
Hidden War 2 (Running Out of Time 2)
0 (0%)
Fat Choi Spirit
0 (0%)
My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
0 (0%)
PTU
1 (3.7%)
Turn Left, Turn Right
0 (0%)
Running on Karma
0 (0%)
Breaking News
1 (3.7%)
Throw Down
0 (0%)
Yesterday Once More
1 (3.7%)
Election
1 (3.7%)
Election 2 (Triad Election)
0 (0%)
Exiled
5 (18.5%)
Mad Detective
0 (0%)
Sparrow
2 (7.4%)
Vengeance
2 (7.4%)
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
0 (0%)
Life Without Principle
0 (0%)
Romancing in Thin Air
0 (0%)
Drug War
1 (3.7%)
Blind Detective
0 (0%)
Three
0 (0%)
Chasing Dream
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 27

Author Topic: To, Johnnie  (Read 14904 times)

1SO

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: To, Johnnie
« Reply #100 on: August 19, 2021, 02:58:19 PM »
I wanted to make this a post separate from my upcoming reviews because it should be known that Johnnie To is the director, but there is a creative team that carry over to give his films their uniqueness.

Writer/Producer Wai Ka-Fai, who seems to be To's secret weapon, taking ordinary screenplays and giving them one-of-a-kind scenes and moments. To is the chef, but Wai ensures the freshness and flavor.

Actor Lau Ching-wan, who appears in 20 of these films, and is as vital to the experience as DeNiro to Scorsese. I just watched a film starring Tony Chiu-Wai Leung and he was great, but To's camera absolutely adores Lau Ching-wan.

Sam the Cinema Snob

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26795
Re: To, Johnnie
« Reply #101 on: August 19, 2021, 05:28:08 PM »
Oh yes, most well regarded directors have long-running collaborations with people that shape a film more than we give them credit for. Stupid auteur theory.

1SO

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: To, Johnnie
« Reply #102 on: August 20, 2021, 09:22:13 AM »
PROGRESS REPORT:

Updated Ranking

The Big Heat (1988)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
More of a team effort than a solo directing credit – including producer Tsui Hark – but I gotta start somewhere. This is a fairly typical HK cop action film, but it’s pretty good and somewhat more realistic than the 80s actioners that defined HK cinema.


All About Ah-Long (1989)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
This was on my list because I’d heard the performance by Chow Yun-Fat was not to be missed. A sentimental divorce drama plays against my expectations of To as a filmmaker who takes the narrative less travelled. Could qualify as a remake of Kramer vs. Kramer with an ending that doesn’t tug at the heart so much as choke the life out of it. This is at the level of Chaplin’s The Kid or The Champ. As for Yun-Fat, I expect excellence anyway, but this is a fine example of his range.


Justice My Foot (1992)
★ ★
To and star Stephen Chow come off as passengers rather than creative collaborators, which combined with my low tolerance for wuxia comedy made this a waste of time. Low humor and mugging involving dead children are a cultural divide I struggle with. Even the always positive worm@work says “It’s pretty terrible really and would be unwatchable if it wasn’t for the cast.” I’m jumping ahead to when To goes modern.


A Hero Never Dies (1998)
★ ★ ★ – Good
Always exciting to find that first movie to display a director’s unique talent. To rethinks the HK action film, with stoic characters out of Michael Mann and action that is more artistic than exciting. (Tony Scott influence?) Then it gets really unique as the two begrudgingly opposing gangsters are physically maimed and discarded by all but their women. To keeps things cool, but digs really deep into the melodrama of these crippled avengers, ending up with a gangster film like no other.


The Longest Nite (1998)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
To was brought in to replace the original director early into production and his partner Wai Ka-Fai was re-writing the script while they were shooting. The result isn’t as messy as it sounds because of the “all in one night” story, and the sheer number of unique approaches to the scenes. Slightly experimental, but largely confident.


The Mission (1999)
★ ★ ½
Perhaps too Godard in structure for me. There’s a simple story of the hired bodyguards who almost fail together, succeed together, and have to turn on each other because of their code of honor. What makes the film memorable is a Takeshi Kitano style of stripped-down simplicity. The action is patient, and the hang-out scenes are a breath of fresh air. However, much of the back half is because of a female character who barely speaks, and she anchors the film in all the wrong ways creating narrative confusion while being poorly handled female character.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2021, 12:47:42 AM by 1SO »

1SO

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: To, Johnnie
« Reply #103 on: August 24, 2021, 06:11:13 PM »
Updated Ranking


Running Out of Time (1999)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
One of To’s more mainstream successes, a fun cat-and-mouse thriller with Andy Lau trying to complete his mission of vengeance before terminal cancer takes him. Whatever you may find lacking in terms of weird ideas is more than made up for by the sequel.


Running Out of Time 2 (2001)
★ ★
Like Gremlins 2, this smacks of being a sequel the director never wanted to make, so he takes the opportunity to do whatever he wants. The bad guy this time is a magician, even more illogical than the ones in Now You See Me. It’s a shamble of a film, but crazy enough to play as a comedy. Without the committed and cool performance by Lau Ching-wan this would be pure nonsense.


Fulltime Killer (2001)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
This used to be my favorite To (until Drug War) because it’s the closest to the cool HK action films I like. Now I see he may have been doing a parody of those films. Hard to tell with my limited cultural knowledge, but with the many movie references, ridiculous action ideas and multiple meta-narrative, this is closer to Hot Fuzz than The Killer.


My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (2002)
★ ★
I appreciated the genre change-up, with a completely different type of performance from Lau Ching-wan that’s every bit as good, and some sequences that pull emotion from whimsey like it’s Amelie. However, there’s also a bunch of broad comedy with shameless mugging, body shaming and people acting like they’re in a Jim Varney film. (I know that’s an old reference, but even Rob Schneider isn’t broad enough to compare.)


PTU (2003)
★ ★ ★ – Very Good
Cool when it needs to be, funny when it wants to be, and not so much strange throughout as unique enough that it can disappoint if you have genre expectations. That's why this isn't the best place to start, but it's the first one that gives the complete Johnnie To experience. The action comes reluctantly, but well-staged. Much of the film is extremely well composed in terms of where the people are placed. The cool characters are often clumsy in that uncomfortable/charming way, like when you realized your parents were people. Then they’ll do something that reminds you of their strength.

1SO

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: To, Johnnie
« Reply #104 on: August 31, 2021, 03:24:36 PM »
Updated Ranking


Running on Karma (2003)
★ ★ ½
This is the one with Andy Lau in a muscle suit. It never looks real, but the seams are so visible, with a heap of full body nudity, you just kind of shrug and go with it before long. Besides, there’s a lot going on here. The film defies all genre classification, but can be best described as a spiritual journey. One that starts with a killer who is cinema’s greatest contortionist and turns completely off the map for the last 30 minutes, causing a Mulholland Drive rethink of everything that comes before. That’s where this film lost me, but I deeply admire its commitment to every unusual idea.


Throw Down (2004)
★ ★ ½
I was relieved to see Wai Ka-Fai didn’t have a hand in this one because the idea and execution dials To’s usual up to 11. (Comparing To to Wes Anderson, this is his Life Aquatic.) Again, the story crosses multiple genres, but everything seems to be happening more on a symbolic level than a literal one. I love sdedalus’ comment, ”it wasn’t really about judo, it’s about getting back up again after you get thrown down, it’s about money and how it flies out of your hands when you run, it’s also about how sometimes you need someone to pick up your shoes for you.”


Breaking News (2004)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
A great premise, making a Raid like stand-off into a satire on police media relations, some great directing and a terrific bad guy, who does unexpected gestures like cooking a meal for his hostages. On the police side however, is a female cop written with a narrow range of being cold, manipulative, controlling and unhappy with everything. Maybe it’s the point to show the bad guys as more human, but this limited part is a little insulting.


Election (2005)
★ ★ ½
Election 2 (2006)
★ ★
It seems aside from his early wuxia comedies, this is my least favorite period of Johnnie To. No longer satisfied with his special blend of genre storytelling, the director wants to be taken more seriously with densely layered, somewhat confusing narratives that contain more talking points than tense situations. The ending of Election is pretty superb, a gut punch to all the political chess plating that occurs up to then. I just don’t find him half as engaging as I used to.


I don’t think my downturn is related to the volume of films I’m watching. I’ve spaced this Marathon out and it’s taken half the month to get this far. I’m looking forward to what’s left because from the little I know, To goes away from narrative muddle and gets back to experimenting with genre expectations

The three films left:
Exiled (2006)
Sparrow (2008)
Vengeance (2009)
« Last Edit: August 31, 2021, 10:13:29 PM by 1SO »

Dave the Necrobumper

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 12730
  • If I keep digging maybe I will get out of this hol
Re: To, Johnnie
« Reply #105 on: August 31, 2021, 08:13:11 PM »
Running on Karma was shown at the 2003 MIFF and I missed it, this reminds me to catch up with it.

1SO

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: To, Johnnie
« Reply #106 on: August 31, 2021, 10:13:18 PM »
I was thinking back before I posted, wondering if I should make a more positive recommendation for those looking to understand Johnnie To in a single film. Then I saw PTU on my rankings and that has to be the one to go to. It's almost as unusual and much more satisfying at the end.

Dave the Necrobumper

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 12730
  • If I keep digging maybe I will get out of this hol
Re: To, Johnnie
« Reply #107 on: September 01, 2021, 01:52:58 AM »
I have seen PTU, but have no recollection of it.

1SO

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: To, Johnnie
« Reply #108 on: September 02, 2021, 09:45:35 AM »
Updated Ranking


Exiled (2006)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
Two crews of opposing hitmen who know each other so well they’re like old friends. Trading bullets is like kicking back with some beers and To makes this implausible attitude make sense. Nothing personal, just business. He even extends this unique approach to the shootouts themselves, which are playful like a HK version of the Airport battle in Captain America: Civil War. This is what Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire wanted to be.


Sparrow (2008)
★ ★ ½
Reading Martin’s positive review of this over his mixed reaction to PTU is a good example of our different tastes. I couldn’t debate him on our different opinions, but I can take the last line of his PTU review and use it as my reaction here. ”There are some noteworthy qualities, especially technical ones, but as a whole the film didn’t do much for me either emotionally or mentally.” Who knows, maybe on different days or watched in a different order we would share or swap opinions.


Vengeance (2009)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
The return of writer Wai Ka-Fai, last heard in Running on Karma. An international film with French actors and scenes filmed in English. Perhaps that’s why some of the deeper thoughts about the senselessness of revenge are barely touched on. The main plot, where the men hired to avenge are connected to the murderers they’re hunting, is so solid I could see this being remade around the world. What’s specific to To is the staging of some of the fights, including a brilliant one lit by a full moon on a cloudy night. Also, the characters could easily expand to a Netflix season, where more substance could be exchanged during the meal breaks.