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.

Revolt of the Living Ad Mats

A very cool double feature.

The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie ('72) is an offbeat thriller in the Misery tradition, a real gem that I remember seeing on TV many decades ago. It starred the excellent actress Bonnie Bedelia, who was so good in Jonathan Kaplan's Heart Like A Wheel ('83)

What Became Of (the British) Jack And Jill? is a very good question. It's great youth thriller from Amicus.

Both these films are MIA on DVD.

More to explore from '72.

When I was ten, this poster captured my imagination, and I consulted it on a nightly basis.

Whenever I was driving with my parents, I would always encourage them to pick up female hitchhikers because of this poster.

In retrospect, I wonder what possible "action" a ten year old boy was going to get from hitchhikers like this... with his mum and dad in the car? I was seriously deluded.

I caught the film years later and enjoyed its unrepentant mean spirit. It was kinda slow, though.


Outside the US, Duel ('71) was released theatrically, and at drive-ins.

I saw it with my dad at the Clayton 1 drive-in and loved it.

It's still my favorite Spielberg film and is the one I can watch over and over again.

My dad wanted to stay for Winning ('69), the Paul Newman racing car film, so I suffered through it.

After Duel, though, it was for pussies.

L'Initiation was a '71 Canadian skinflick from Denis Heroux, who went on to direct Barbara Bach in The Uncanny ('77) and produce Atlantic City ('80) with Burt Lancaster, Black Robe ('91), and the excellent The Bay Boy ('84).

One on Top of the Other is Lucio Fulci's very decent Perversion Story ('69)

This is truly great, dirty Western with a dynamite lead performance by Michael J. Pollard, who was terrific in Badlands, and who scared the crap out of me as The Boy in "The Magic Mirror" episode of Lost in Space. Pollard has such an odd, disarming presence. He was the 60's/70's version of Crispin Glover (though he got much better roles). Today he looks like a pasty Malcolm McDowell.

The film, with its thick wash of grain and hand-held cinematogrpahy, is a minor masterpiece.

Also known as Beyond The Fog and Horror of Snape Island, this '72 British thriller has atmosphere and brutal menace. It's a little sloppy at times, but I like it.

Castle of the Living Dead ('64) compliments Tower perfectly. It also has the same problems. It is slow.

Still, it has a dwarf, (making it a must-see), Donald Sutherland as an old hag, the first AD was Michael Reeves, who would march onwards to direct the wonderful Witchfinder General, and it has fantastic Euro-Goth atmosphere.