The Running Out of Time BR & Other Matters

We've all been making do with sub-standard dvd's of Johnny To's Running out of Time for, well, quite some time. The HK version, which has been run through my machine more than a dozen times, has a barely audible sound mix and soft, jittery pictures. Not a great print element, either.

Be frustrated no more because Fortune Star's Blu-Ray is something special. The print element is surprisingly clean with only speckles here and there. It's never distracting. The quality of the transfer is high, the images crisp, the blues holding their own as blues often don't.

High praise, of course, must go to the distributor's recreation of the soundtrack. Finally, Raymond Wong's incredible score can be heard in all its sonic glory clearly and with a great deal of body and oomph.

If you've never seen the film, I envy you the experience of watching it for the first time. If you're already a fan, step right up and snag this stellar release from KAM and Ronson/Fortune Star.

Perhaps Milky Way will provide us with an equally gorgeous print element for an A Hero Never Dies Blu-Ray?

While on the subject of extraordinary film scores, I must point you towards the Avex Trax (Japan) release of Lee Dong June's score for Tae Guk Gi (aka The Brotherhood of War aka Brotherhood; 2004).

It's a big, sumptuous, emotionally transporting work.

The CD features some cues not found in the film and the music used in the trailer.

Soi Cheang's Accident

Accident (Yi ngoi, 09) comes from Soi Cheang, the director of Diamond Hill, Dog Bite Dog, and Shamo.

Although the experimental Diamond Hill announced a great new talent, it was Dog Bite Dog, the director's eighth feature, that blew me away. A brutal revenge tale with a relentless pace, it attracted the attention of international distributors and inched Cheang up the totem pole. As an enthusiast of cinematic violence, the film ticked the right boxes for me and wore its nihilism on its sleeve. Each second was like a dizzying smack to the back of the head.

Shamo, the director's follow-up, was based on a manga, and reminded me somewhat of Shinya Tsukamoto's Tokyo Fist, a boxing/beating movie so hysterical, it felt like a crazy manga.

Accident feels more like a Johnny To movie, possessing as it does the tone and pace of To's Mad Detective and Vengeance. This is not surprising. To (and his company Milky Way) produced the film. It is slicker than any of Cheang's previous films and the performances are much more subdued.
  

Louis Koo plays 'The Brain', the head of a small troop of assassins. Koo's job is to make each kill look like an accident. While carrying out a particularly tricky kill involving a wheelchair, tram lines, and electricity, some members of Koo's outfit are killed by an out-of-control vehicle. Being the paranoid type, Koo begins to suspect that this "accident" was no accident at all. The film's second half focuses on Koo's exploration of his own paranoia. He becomes embroiled in a complex mental game with an insurance investigator (Alexander Chan) who may or may not be out to get him.

Although the premise is interesting, the film suffers from a strange inertia. Ultimately, it is only about paranoia, and there isn't quite enough juicy material to push the narrative forward.

A subplot involving one of Koo's operatives, Uncle (Shui-Fan Fung), is milked thoroughly for  its dramatic worth. Uncle is suffering from a form of dementia, and his memory loss plays a key role in the group's disintigration. Suet Lam, a Johnny To regular, is terrific as always, and brings a sense of welcome humor to the proceedings. Still, I wanted to like Accident more.

The staging of the accidents is superb. The suspense Cheang creates with carefully chosen angles and gentle camera moves is palpable. Editing by David M. Richardson, now a veteran of more than 25 Hong Kong movies, is sharp and focused.  The cinematography is somewhat experimental; the many unconventional compositions lend the narrative a sweet freshness. 

Unfortunately, the source material (the script) doesn't quite support the meat of this movie, so the outcome is slightly underwhelming.

A Foursome I Cannes Wait To See

The Cannes line-up has just been announced, and I'm looking most forward to seeing Gasper Noe's Japan-set Into the Void.

I Stand Alone is one of my favorite films of all time, as is Irreversible, so my hopes for Noe's latest are not modest.

I haven't liked his short subjects much, but I admire his courage and sensibility.

Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces once again stars the dynamic Penelope Cruz.

My affection for Almodovar's films goes way back to Matador (my favorite film of his; '86), Law of Desire ('87), Pepi, Luci, Bom and the Other Girls ('80), and Labyrinth of Passion ('82).

This Vengeance poster has a Blade Runner/Black Rain vibe.

Johnny To's The Red Circle remake is listed as being "in production" on imdb, but that could easily be one hundred and eighty degrees north of the truth.

Frenchman Johnny Hallyday and the ever-reliable Simon Yam topline Vengeance.

The beautiful Camilla Belle stars in Heitor Dhalia's Adrift.

The plot shares parallels with Bertrand Blier's superb French erotic classic Beau Pere ('81):

"A 14 year-old girl finds out that her father has a mistress on the beach. From this moment on, she enters the complex adult world and has voyeristic relationship with the father."

Film also stars Vincent Cassell, Debora Bloch, and Tais Araujo.