Johnny To: 10 Films Streaming on Roku

Katherine Spring, recent author of Saying It With Songs: Popular Music and the Coming of Sound to Hollywood Cinema (congrats, Katherine!) posted an interesting link on her Facebook page to Ranked: The Films of Johnnie To From Worst to Best. Almost everyone commenting on the link agreed that there were problems with the rankings (that is true of all such lists, and that is why people keep making them), but nearly everyone agreed that the list itself was ambitious. While many fans in the West know To for his action and triad films, this list does a good job recognizing his romance and comedy output as well.  While I'm a personal fan of Running on Karma (2003), I'm not sure if I would place it at #3 among the films that I've seen so far, but then again clearly Jake Cole at Film.com has seen more of To's overall output than I have. His list has 49 titles, of which I have seen 20, most of which are the action films (and most are at the top of his list).

What inspired me to follow up on this list with a blog entry today was Cole's placement of Romancing in Thin Air (2012) at number 1 on the list. It's one I hadn't seen, or even heard of. Cole points out that while it has not been released in theaters or on DVD in the United States, it is currently available on Hulu (free Hulu in fact, not just Hulu Plus).  I did a little more digging and discovered it is also available on Amazon Prime Instant Video, for those who want to avoid Hulu's ads.

Romancing in Thin Air is certainly a charming, if somewhat predictable, romance. While watching it I was reminded how To has viewed his output as one film to keep Milkyway Studios going strong, then one film for the critics.  Certainly this film is for a general audience, it's well crafted and acted and certainly worth a look for those who are less familiar with this significant part of To's output.  I'm not as crazy about it as Jake Cole at Film.com, but it does fit in interesting ways into To's recurring themes in his non-triad work. Also streaming on Amazon Prime Instant Video is the #16 film on Cole's list, Don't Go Breaking My Heart (2011, co-directed by Wai-Ka Fai), which I also hope to catch up with in the near future.

The other recent To films hat have received more attention from the critics currently are also worth checking out. Drug War has several interesting genre twists that really get you just when you think you know where the film going, and its third act really punches you in the gut. Life Without Principle is a clever network narrative following several characters on the day of a global financial meltdown. It features some abrupt shifts in tone that only To seems to be able to pull off effectively (or perhaps only To is allowed to get a away with).

I did a March, 2011 blog entry on To films streaming on Netflix, but while those links still bring you to the film's Netflix page (the links are not broken), very few of those titles are still streaming.

Posters and Synopses from The Movie Database unless noted.

Romancing In Thin Air (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2012, 111 minutes)

Amazon Instant Video: After a popular actor is jilted at the altar by an actress he travels to the mountainous area of Yunnan province. There, he finds true love with a heartbroken woman who is also a secret fan of the actor.

---

Drug War (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2012, 105 minutes)

The taciturn police commander Zhang leads an undercover drugs team and in his continuous battle against the ubiquitous drug barons, takes up arms against his arch enemy, Timmy Choi. When he gets hold of Choi, he makes a deal with him: in exchange for his life (in China you can get the death penalty for producing only 50 grams of drugs) the young criminal will help the police infiltrate a sizeable drug network.

---

Life Without Principle (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2011, 87 minutes)

A criminal, a bank clerk and a police officer find their destinies entwined when a loan shark gets assaulted after having withdrawn $10 million from the bank in the midst of the world financial crisis.

---

Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Johnny To & Wai Ka-Fai, Hong Kong, 2011, 115 minutes)

Mainlander & financial analyst Cheng Zixin (Gao Yuan-Yuan), who followed her then boyfriend Owen (Terence Yin) to Hong Kong, runs into her ex-boyfriend while riding the bus. Owen is now with his pregnant wife and when his wife spots Owen talking to his ex she she freaks out. Cheng hurriedly gets off the bus and, being in a daze, is almost run over by a car. A haggard drunk named Fang (Daniel Wu) then saves Cheng. Meanwhile, in a nearby car, sits CEO Cheung Shen (Louis Koo) who watches everything that transpires. CEO Cheung Shen is a playboy who also works in an office building directly adjacent to Cheng Zixin. Cheung Shen soon starts to woo Cheng Zixin by sending messages to her through the window of his office building. The drunk haggard Fang, who saved Cheng Zixin's life, runs into Cheng Zixin a few weeks later. It turns out that the drunk haggard is a Canadian-born top architect going through personal problems. They soon become friends.

---

Vengeance (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2009, 108 minutes)

François Costello arrives in Hong Kong to avenge the death of his daughter and her family, who were murdered by hired killers. Twenty years before, Costello was a professional hitman... As Costello's memory is fading away, three professional killers, Kwai, Chu and Lok, are sought to help him complete his revenge plan.

---

Triangle (Johnny To & Ringo Lam & Tsui Hark, Hong Kong, 2007, 101 minutes)

Small-timer Fei (Louis Koo), his harried buddy Sam (Simon Yam), and antique store owner Mok (Sun Hong Lei) are all in desperate need of money. Fei wants his friend to drive a robbery getaway car but Sam backs out, throwing Fei in trouble with the triads. As the three are arguing, a mysterious man leaves them a map, leading them to an unlikely treasure under the Legislative Council building. All their financial woes seem to be solved after a late-night heist, but they are being tracked by shady cop Wen (Lam Ka-Tung), who is carrying on an affair with Sam's emotionally unstable wife, Ling (Kelly Lin), and has connections with Fei. When the twisted relationship tangles come to light, the brotherhood dangerously breaks down and the treasure ends up in the wrong hands.

---

Mad Detective (Johnny To & Wai Ka-Fai, Hong Kong, 2007, 89 minutes)

A rookie cop teams up with a former detective with a supernatural gift to hunt down a serial killer.

---

Exiled (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2006, 110 minutes)

A friendship is formed between an ex-gangster, and two groups of hitmen - those who want to protect him and those who were sent to kill him.

---

Election (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2005, 115 minutes)

A drama-thriller centered on a democratic election within an organized crime society.

---

The Heroic Trio (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 1992, 88 minutes)

Tung and Ching were both adopted by the same master. But later Ching was abducted by the eunuch-Chan. Ching grew up and became scientist Li's assistant and Tung married officer Lau. Chat had escaped from Chan at 15 and became a thief-catcher. During Chan's intrigue the trio united to become "The heroines of the East".

---

Asian Horror: Three Extremes, Thirst, Dumplings, Audition

Halloween is just around the corner, so over the next few weeks I'll try to add some horror-themed entries.  Today we start with the Asian horror omnibus film, Three...Extremes, and follow up with other films streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly by the same directors of that film, Chan-wook Park, Fruit Chan, and Takashi Miike.

Three...Extremes is a reasonably successful omnibus film, although you may want to check out other films by the directors if you're not familiar with them first.  In my opinion the strongest of the three is Park's audacious "Cut."  But the other two shorts have their memorable moments, and will appeal to fans of Chan and Miike.  I have not seen the follow-up film Three...Extremes II with three other directors (Nonzee Nimibutr, Ji-woon Kim, and Peter Chan) but it is also streaming on Netflix (as are other films by those directors)

Three...Extremes (Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike, Chan-wook Park, Hong Kong/Japan/South Korea, 2005, 126 minutes)
Netflix: Three Asian masters of horror spin twisted tales in this terrifying trilogy that begins with "Dumplings" by Hong Kong's Fruit Chan, in which an aging actress's obsession with recapturing her youth leads to an unnatural diet. In Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park's "Cut," a movie extra with a grudge torments a successful director. Japan's Takashi Miike directs "Box," in which sibling rivalry and jealousy reach disturbing new heights.  Netflix link.

[Mobile Users Double Click for Fullscreen]

Chan-wook Park's Thirst is an appropriately gory vampire film, and perhaps a proper corrective to the recent trend in teen/romance vampires.  It is certainly far more cynical and bleak than the recent pop vampire films, perhaps a bit too bleak by the end.  It's tone may wear you down in part due to it's length, but overall it provides an interesting twist on the genre.  Unfortunately Park's Oldboy is no longer streaming on Netflix, but a few other of his films remain: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Lady Vengeance (2005), and the romantic comedy, I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay (2006)

Thirst (Chan-wook Park, South Korea, 2009, 133 minutes)
Netflix: When the smoke clears from a failed experiment to find a cure for a fatal disease, a devout priest finds himself forever changed. Specifically, he's a vampire -- but that isn't the only thing that's different. Now he's also willing to commit adultery with the wife of his childhood friend, a sin he never would have considered before. Kang-ho Song, Ha-kyun Shin and Ok-bin Kim co-star in this horror offering from Korean director Chan-Wook Park.  Netflix link.

Fruit Chan's Dumplings is the full-length version of the story told in short form in Three...Extremes.  I have put it in my queue along with Chan's remake of Don't Look Up (2009) which seems to have divided critics and audiences alike into love/hate camps.

Dumplings (Fruit Chan, Hong Kong, 2004, 90 minutes)
Netflix: Hoping to hang onto her unfaithful husband (Tony Leung Ka Fai) by looking younger, retired television star Mrs. Lee (Miriam Yeung Chin Wah) eagerly begins eating Aunt Mei's (Ling Bai) famous rejuvenation dumplings, but her increasing appetite for these rare delicacies leads to unsavory complications. Fruit Chan directs this disturbing horror film that features a gruesome look into the dumplings' secret ingredient: human fetuses.  Netflix link.

I mentioned Miike's most recent film, 13 Assassins, in a recent post, and a few of his other films are currently streaming on Netflix Watch instantly: the infamous Ichi the Killer (2001); his contribution to Masters of Horror, Imprint (2005), and his recent spaghetti western-inspired Sukiyaki Western Django (2007).  But instead I'll include another film that I need to catch up with and have put in my queue, Audition from 1999.  If you're not familiar with Miike's films, be warned, they are not for the squeamish.


Audition (Takashi Miike, Japan, 1999, 115 minutes)
Netflix: Director Takashi Miike fashions an explosive drama in Audition. Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) has lived as a widower for too long and decides it's time to marry again. But how will he find a wife? When a friend suggests he hold a fake audition to pick the right woman, he takes him up on it -- only to realize that his choice may be a better actress than he bargained for.  Netflix link.  Note: Expires 10/20/11.

Jackie Chan: Little Big Soldier, Project A, Wheels on Meals

Back in June in one of my Miramax/Dimension entries I mentioned that Jackie Chan's Operation Condor (Armour of God) films were streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly.  Some of his other early classics, unfortunately dubbed (although reasonably well dubbed), are now also available.  They might make a good pairing with what critics have called a nostalgic return to his roots in last year's Little Big Soldier.

Little Big Soldier (Sheng Ding, Hong Kong, 2010, 95 minutes)
Netflix: Jackie Chan stars as a grizzled veteran who kidnaps a young enemy general (Lee-Hom Wang), then escorts him on a long journey to collect a reward, in this comic martial arts extravaganza set in the days of ancient China. But as their perilous road trip unfolds, the old soldier soon realizes he's bitten off more than he can chew. Chan also wrote the screenplay for this film directed by Sheng Ding.  Netflix link.

Some of Chan's best films from the 1980s teamed him up with Sammo Hung.  This is the period where Chan perfected the comic kung-fu genre (which really kicked in with his Drunken Master (1978), also streaming), and many critics subsequently compared his work with the great silent comedians like Chaplin and especially Keaton.  In addition to Project A, Netflix is also streaming Project A 2 (1987)

Jackie Chan's Project A (Jackie Chan, Hong Kong, 1983, 98 minutes)
Netflix: This acrobatic action flick stars the inimitable Jackie Chan as an upright sailor in turn-of-the-century Hong Kong who's out to stop buccaneers from running roughshod over the South China Sea. So far, the crooked police captain and a band of thugs in league with the looters have hamstrung all efforts to battle the problem. Can Jackie foil the culprits with a little help from a wily con man (Sammo Hung)? Netflix link.

Wheels on Meals (Sammo Hung, Hong Kong, 1984, 108 minutes)
Netflix: Chan and Biao operate a catering van in beautiful Barcelona, Spain. They team-up with a bumbling detective to help him find a pickpocket named Sylvia. When they discover she's been kidnapped by a local gang, they swing into action.  Netflix link.

Dragons Forever (Sammo Hung, Hong Kong, 1988, 93 minutes)
Netflix: Jackie Chan is a lawyer defending a shady businessman. When he realizes that his client is involved in the drug business, he teams up with his buddies to take on the villians and their polluting ways.  Netflix link.

Miramax, Part Three: Dimension Films and Genre Franchises

In addition to the prestige and specialty films mentioned in the earlier posts, Miramax also made quite a bit of money with various genre franchises with its Dimension Films subsidiary.  The bread and butter here of course was the Scream franchise, but Robert Rodriguez also provided a range of genre films as well (Spy Kids is scheduled for Netflix Instant View on July 1).  With the exception of the Scream and Jackie Chan sequels, I don't necessarily recommend the sequels listed here, but I included them as a reminder that Miramax was always just as interested in making money the old fashioned way as any other studio.

Scream (Wes Craven, USA, 1996, 111 minutes)
Netflix: Horror maven Wes Craven -- paying homage to teen horror classics such as Halloween and Prom Night -- turns the genre on its head with this tale of a murderer who terrorizes hapless high schooler Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) by offing everyone she knows. Not your average slasher flick, Scream distinguishes itself with a self-parodying sense of humor. Courteney Cox and David Arquette co-star as a local news reporter and a small-town deputy.  Netflix link.




Scream 2 (1997) is also available on Netflix Watch Instantly.  Dimension Films also distributed the Scary Movie parody franchise, and Scary Movie 2 (2001) is currently streaming as well.

From Dusk Till Dawn (Robert Rodriguez, USA, 1996, 107 minutes)
Netflix: Robbers-on-the-lam Seth (George Clooney) and Richard Gecko (Quentin Tarantino) take an ex-preacher (Harvey Keitel) and his kids hostage. On a race to the Mexican border, they rendezvous at a cantina, not knowing the owners and clientele are bloodthirsty vampires. That's when director Robert Rodriguez (Desperado) abruptly switches from hostage drama to tongue-in-cheek, vampiric melee, creating a blood-stained ode to 1960s Mexican horror movies. Netflix link.



The so-called sequel From Dusk To Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) is also available on Netflix Watch Instantly.

Mimic (Guillermo del Toro, USA, 1997, 105 minutes)
Netflix: In this cinematic kissing cousin to the giant-radioactive-ant flick Them, etymologist Mira Sorvino eradicates disease-carrying cockroaches only to create a new breed of lethal, man-sized insect in the sewer systems of New York City. Co-starring Charles S. Dutton, Jeremy Northam and a nest of creepy, computer-generated bugs, Mimic will send you running for the Raid. Netflix link.





This early Guillermo del Toro is pretty good and worth checking out.  Of course as part of the package deal Netflix Watch Instantly is also streaming Mimic 2: Hardshell (2001).

Operation Condor (Jackie Chan, Hong Kong, 1991, 90 minutes)
Netflix: In what many consider to be one of Jackie Chan's best roles, he plays a secret agent embarking on his biggest mission yet: To find the fortune in gold that the Nazis buried in the Sahara Desert during World War II. This recut American version of Chan's 1991 hit (also known as Armour of God II) features stunning locations from Spain, Morocco and the Philippines as well as some of Chan's greatest set pieces, including the famous wind tunnel climax. Netflix link.




Dimension Films re-cut Chan's 1991 film Armour of God II and released it as Operation Condor in 1997.  To make things even more confusing, they re-cut the original Armour of God (1987) and released it on DVD as Operation Condor II: Armour of the Gods. Both are available on Netflix Instant View, which gives you the strange option of starting with II, which is actually the first film in the series.  In addition to the Armour of God confusion, Dimension also released Chan's Police Story 3 as Supercop,  In each case, I'd recommend finding DVDs of the original Hong Kong editions, but these certainly do the trick if you're looking for instant gratification.

The Crow (Alex Proyas, US, 1994, 101 minutes)
Netflix: Exactly one year after young rock guitarist Eric Draven (Brandon Lee, son of martial arts icon Bruce Lee) and his fiancée are brutally killed by a ruthless gang of criminals, Draven -- watched over by a hypnotic crow -- returns from the grave to exact revenge. Based on a graphic novel of the same name, this Gothic action thriller features Lee's last performance before his untimely death. Ernie Hudson and Ling Bai co-star  Netflix link.





To end on a sad note, who knows what could have happened to The Crow as a potential franchise if it were not for the death of Brandon Lee.  There was still an attempt at a franchise, and the sequel / re-boot The Crow: City of Angels is also available on Netflix Watch Instantly.

Wong Kar-wai on Netflix and Fandor

Following up on my post last week on Hong Kong's Johnny To, it is also worth noting that many films by the great Wong Kar-wai are also available for instant streaming.  Whereas Johnny To has been more firmly rooted in the genre-driven Hong Kong industry, Wong Kar-wai has made a name for himself with highly personal films for the international film festival circuit. His breakthrough film, Chungking Express (1994), is missing from this list, but it is available on DVD from the Criterion Collection.

A good overview of Wong's career can be found at the Great Directors page of the Senses of Cinema website.  A key collaborator in his career has been the cinematographer Christopher Doyle; if you start to watch any of these films streaming and the image quality is not to your liking, by all means stop and get the DVD or Blu-ray if available.  

The new streaming service Fandor has been receiving some attention in the press, and I will keep my eye on their listings for inclusion here.  For now, it is worth noting that two Wong Kar-wai titles are currently available there, Fallen Angels (1995) and Happy Together (1997).  The subscription rate is $10 a month, but a current promotion allows you to watch one film for free if you log in with your Facebook account.  If you have experience with Fandor please feel free to let me know your thoughts about the service in the comments section below. 

Ashes of Time Redux (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1994/2008, 93 minutes)
Netflix: In ancient China, swordsman Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung) retreats to the desert to recover from the sting of an affair gone wrong. With a hardened heart, he subcontracts out killings to bounty hunters, who face their own dilemmas on the road to redemption. Tony Leung Ka Fai, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung also star in Kar Wai Wong's recut of his 1994 wuxia epic, which adds a score by Yo-Yo Ma. Netflix link.

I had the opportunity to see a 35mm print of the film around 1997 or so, and it was one of my favorite screening experiences of all time.  This has some of the most gorgeous cinematography I have ever seen (although I was disappointed by some of the alterations in the redux version).  For an in-depth analysis of the changes between versions of the film, consult David Bordwell's blog entry on the film.  More so than many of his later films, Ashes of Time is dependent upon genre conventions familiar to the Hong Kong industry, specifically the wuxia pian or swordplay martial arts genre.  Some of the more interesting aspects of the film might be lost to viewers who are not already familiar with those genre conventions, as the film plays with whether it will fulfill or deny viewer expectations for a martial arts film.  The redux version reduces this tension to a degree, and moves more towards an art cinema paradigm and eliminates some of the more purely genre driven elements.  This is probably not the film to introduce yourself to Wong's cinema, but it is well worth visiting at some point, and returning to for multiple viewings.


As Tears Go By (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1988, 99 minutes)
Netflix: Hong Kong gangster Ah Wah (Andy Lau) does all he can to keep his friend and fellow mobster Fly (Jackie Cheung) out of trouble, but Fly continues to wind up in hot water. Ah Wah's crime boss has had about as much as he can stand of Fly, but Ah Wah continues to stand by his friend. To complicate matters, Ah Wah begins to fall for his cousin (Maggie Cheung) but can't find the time to start a relationship and keep Fly out of trouble at the same time. Netflix link.

Again, at this point in his career we still see the influences of the more dominant genre driven Hong Kong industry.  In this case, the genre is the mobster/triad genre, but we still see hints of things to come in Wong's later work.  While the repetitive use popular songs becomes a trait later in his career to great effect, I do have to warn you that you might have to hear a Cantopop version of "Take My Breath Away" a few more times than you would want to outside of watching this film.  Still, a great film, with perhaps the best scene to ever feature someone stuffing a gun down someone else's pants and firing it.

Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1990, 95 minutes)
Netflix: After learning that the woman who raised him is not his mother, Yuddy (Leslie Cheung) acts out by manipulating two women -- quiet Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung) and glamorous Mimi (Carina Lau). Su Lizhen eventually catches the eye of Tide (Andy Lau), while Yuddy's friend Zeb (Jacky Cheung) falls for Mimi. Meanwhile, Yuddy learns the identity of his birth mother and heads off to find her. This film won multiple honors at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Netflix link.

For me, this is where Wong Kar-wai starts to hit his stride, although I have to admit I did not know what to make of the film the first time I saw it.  My advice would be to take your time with the film, and don't force it to do anything other than what it is doing; just let the images work on you.  This a great meditation on time, loneliness, and the need to reach out to others, themes that will come back in subsequent Wong films.  By the end, we do see the re-introduction of genre components, but what will stick in your mind after the film is over will be vivid feelings and tones generated by specific lingering images.

Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 2005, 98 minutes)
Netflix: A disillusioned Hong Kong killer (Leon Lai Ming) embarks on what he hopes to be his last hit -- all the while realizing that to truly get out of the game, he must overcome his romantic obsession with his rarely seen partner (Michelle Reis). In a seemingly unrelated subplot, a mute (Takeshi Kaneshiro) tries to get the world's attention in his own unconventional way. Kar Wai Wong wrote and directed this winner of multiple Hong Kong Film Awards. Netflix link.  Fandor link.

Often seen as a companion work to Chungking Express (in fact the story was originally going to be a component of that film), in Fallen Angels we see Wong spreading his wings stylistically, sometimes audaciously, to create a cinematically sumptuous experience.  Sure this involves a hitman, but we have now come a long way from As Tears Go By, and we are nowhere near the films of Johnny To from last week (as much as I love those films, too).

Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1997, 96 minutes)
Netflix: Gay couple Ho Po-Wing (Leslie Cheung) and Lai Yiu-Fai (Tony Leung) travel from Hong Kong to Argentina for a holiday to try to mend their dissolving relationship. They separate for a time, but when Po-Wing shows up at Yiu-Fai's door beaten up, Yiu-Fai takes him in. While Yiu-Fai begins a new relationship with another man, Po-Wing's life spins out of control. Director Kar Wai Wong's romantic drama won the Best Director award at Cannes. Netflix link.  Fandor link.

Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung are great in all of the Wong films that they appear in, but Happy Together is a particularly good showcase for their talents.  This film also benefits from the move away from Hong Kong and shooting on location in Argentina, which gives Wong and cinematographer Doyle a refreshing new palette with which to work.  Despite some great landscapes, however, the dominant feeling here is a kind of claustrophobia as the film vividly portrays the ups and downs of an codependent relationship.

In The Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 2001, 98 minutes)
Netflix: In director Kar Wai Wong's delicately mannered tale of platonic romance set in 1962 Hong Kong, neighboring married apartment-dwellers Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung, who won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his role) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) discover that their often-absent spouses are having an affair. The two spend much of their free time together and find they have much in common, but vow never to behave like their unfaithful mates. Netflix link.

A gorgeous, heartbreaking film.  All of Wong's familiar elements are here, working perfectly together.  Here is a film where art direction, set design, and especially the costumes are thrust into the foreground in a way that ads a special texture to the quiet, intimate story (every dress Maggie Cheung wears is stunning).  While I mentioned that the repetition of "Take My Breath Away" in As Tears Go By might get irritating, the repetition of Nat King Cole songs works amazingly well here and with great emotional impact. I'm less enthusiastic about 2046, which is a companion film to In the Mood for Love, but you should still check it out anyway.  You might also consider Wong's segment in the portmanteau film Eros to be a thematic companion to this film, and it is also available on Netflix Watch Instantly.


I look forward to your thoughts about these films in the comments section.  --JLK

Johnny To's Triad Action Cinema

Hong Kong's Johnny To is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today.  He works in a wide variety of genres, but he is perhaps best known for his action and triad-themed films such as the ones discussed in this entry.  He and his Milkyway Images production company came to the forefront of the Hong Kong film industry after British handed Hong Kong over to Chinese control in 1997.  While other Hong Kong action filmmakers such as Tsui Hark and John Woo found work in Hollywood when the Hong Kong industry seemed to be moving into a decline, To made a name for himself with films like The Mission and Running Out of Time (both 1999).  A good survey of To's career and a discussion of his status as an auteur can be found at the Senses of Cinema website. 

To has claimed that his strategy to keep Milkyway Images vibrant was to alternate between making films for the public and making films for the critics.  The films below are a good starting point for those interested in the films that seem to be made more for the critics and the international film festival circuit.  But I encourage you to also look at his films in other genres as well; doing so will often help shed a different light on his action films.

Mad Detective (Johnny To & Wai Ka Fai, Hong Kong, 2007, 89 minutes)
Netflix: Though Inspector Bun (Ching Wan Lau) was forced into early retirement because of his psychotic tendencies, his brilliant second sight is such an asset that he's asked to help find missing cop Wong (Kwok-Lun Lee). But the edgy Bun understandably has a hard time getting into the mind of Wong's partner, Chi-wai (Ka Tung Lam), a schizophrenic with seven personalities. Johnny To and Ka-Fai Wai directed this unusual Hong Kong actioner. Netflix link.

An interesting To double-feature would be to match this film with a To film in another genre that has some similar plot elements, Running on Karma (2003).  What they have in common is a character who appears to have second-sight, but the films diverge a great deal in terms of tone and style.  Running on Karma has a wide variety of tones (from broadly comic, to romantic, to quite violent) which to a degree is typical of To's general audience films (and Hong Kong popular cinema in general).   Mad Detective, on the other hand, takes the second-sight plot device more seriously and gives it more psychological dimensions.  It's also interesting that both films were collaboratively directed by To and Wai Ka-Fai, which creates another ripple in the notion of authorship in the cinema.

Election (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2005, 99 minutes)
Netflix: With the Wo Shing Society, Hong Kong's oldest triad, on the verge of electing a new chairman, the stage is set for an all-out battle between the two leading contenders, the highly respected Lok (Simon Yam) and the hotheaded loose cannon known as Big D (Tony Leung Ka Fai). When Big D suspects that he'll be passed over for the position, he threatens to start his own triad and launch a war against the Wo Shing Society. Netflix link.

Triad Election (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2006, 92 minutes)
Netflix: Hong Kong triad member Jimmy (Louis Koo) wants to go legit. But authorities ask the reluctant gangster to run for chairman and spend two years helping broker peace between the triad and the government. Now, Jimmy must become the leader of the organization he hates in order to make the life he wants for himself. Johnny To directs this stylish crime drama, which premiered at Cannes and was a hit on the international film festival circuit. Netflix link.




The Election films are truly great triad films, but you should be prepared for some intense violence, particularly in Triad Election (which is the North American release title for Election 2).  Interestingly, the films do not feature gun violence, but instead they display a far more brutal, physical brand of violence. That did not prevent the American distributors from photoshopping guns into the hands of the characters in the American poster for the film, in order to adhere to American gangster genre expectations; compare the original here with the American version here.  But the violence here has a more blunt psychological effect, beyond the spectacle of violence seen in most triad/gangster films.  Ironically, this kind of violence might actually turn off fans of the genre.  It would be interesting to read comments from genre fans in relation to this, and from people who usually avoid this genre because of the conventional use of violence as spectacle. 

Perhaps what I like best about the films taken together is that they present an epic view of the social and political changes within triad subcultre and Hong Kong culture at large while at the same time creating very vivid individual characters who evolve and change over the course of the two films.  To a degree the audience's allegiances change from the first film to the second film, and off-hand I can't think of another sequel in which we have such a different view of the key character remaining from original film.  The political commentary gets even more overt in the second film, as mainland Chinese interests begin to exert more control over the previously autonomous triads.  Ultimately the plot is very satisfying as it clearly explains how characters are punished for breaking long-established rules, but also punished for following the rules in an era when the rules are in constant flux. 

Exiled (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2007, 109 minutes)
Netflix: Set in 1998 in the former Portuguese colony of Macao, this stylish thriller from Johnny To blends spaghetti Western conventions with Hong Kong-style bullet ballets in a story about the long reach of the mob. When two hit men appear at the house of a former colleague, they encounter two ex-associates who've been sent to kill them. A shoot-out ensues -- and then the old pals sit down to dinner. Rest assured that's not the end of it. Netflix link.

Vengeance (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2009, 108 minutes)
Netflix: Today, Costello (French music and film icon Johnny Hallyday) is a skilled chef. Twenty years ago, he was a cold-blooded killer working for the mob. But when a horrific tragedy befalls the family of his daughter (Sylvie Testud), Costello returns to his old ways. Journeying from France to Hong Kong, our culinary hero prepares to serve up revenge on a host of bad guys in this bloody tale from acclaimed action director Johnnie To. Netflix link.





Exiled and Vengeance would also make a good double-feature, as they both contain plot elements that play off of each other in interesting ways, and they also demonstrate some of the consequences of international co-productions.  Unlike the Election films, here we are back in the domain of genre conventions of violence as spectacle.  The difference between these films and their American equivalents is that here we have the violence portrayed with a formal rigor and stylistic audacity that is at times exhilarating (even if you usually don't like screen violence).  Exiled in particular has some fantastically inventive sequences, so that while the plot may be seem all too typical, the stylistic flourishes keep surprising you.

The casting of the French star Johnny Hallyday and the use of English in Vengeance are consequences of To moving into the world of international co-productions.  The effects of these changes are not always for the better, but they make the film fascinating to watch especially if you have just seen Exiled.  The presence of a leader and a star (Costello, played by Halliday) significantly alters the group dynamic, but a leaderless group dynamic is essential for the success of Exiled.  I'd be curious to read comments from viewers about the differences between the two films, despite their surface similarities.

I look forward to your responses and feedback in the comments section.  --JLK