Maybe it’s the wide, multi-lane avenues, the desolate industrial locations, the bullet-train convenience or the sparing use of violence intended to please censors. Maybe it’s just the Mandarin banter. Regardless, there’s plenty of evidence here for fans of Johnnie To that the...
Apr 25 2013 - 11:56am
(Hong Kong/China) Directed by Johnnie To. Starring Louis Koo, Sammi Cheng, Gao Yuanyuan, Wang Baoqiang, Huang Yi. Category I.
Following the success of last year’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” in which a tasteful and suspenseful love triangle kept the audience guessing,...
Feb 8 2012 - 12:02pm
Reviewers’ Biases:Loves: Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnnie ToHates: Johnnie To, Ringo Lam and Tsui HarkThree directors working on a film is rare, but three directors working on a single narrative? That’s as common as three critics writing the same film review.They don’t announce...
Nov 10 2009 - 11:57am
(Hong Kong/France) The opening film of this year’s Summer International Film Festival, Johnnie To’s “Vengeance” initially leaps onto the screen with beautifully choreographed shootouts. Unfortunately, it ends up limping off as an impotent imposter in the canon of Hong Kong...
Aug 20 2009 - 2:11pm
Category IIA. Much ink has been spilled over Johnnie To’s taking three years to complete this film. But the director doesn’t care. He’s said he would have taken even longer if he could have. Such insouciance can be found in every nook and cranny of “Sparrow,” and it...
Feb 11 2008 - 4:42pm
Category III. Lau Ching-wan’s delusional hero in “Mad Detective” operates on one guiding principle when solving capers: use logic, not emotion. Much the same goes for enjoying this outstanding achievement from director Johnnie To, collaborating with Wai Ka-fei for the first time...
Sep 6 2007 - 11:39am
Don’t look for anything deep in Johnnie To’s latest offering, “Exiled.” Dialogue is sparse, the gazes are penetrating, and everybody is just itching to pull their guns out and go ballistic. But if it’s style you want, look no further, for this is the closest Hong Kong...
Oct 19 2006 - 2:40pm
“Election” was indisputably the best local film of last year. Johnnie To’s “Election 2” manages to be one of those sequels that’s almost on par with the first film, inviting even more comparisons with “The Godfather” than anyone had thought feasible....
Apr 27 2006 - 11:34am
