AMP Movie Rating

Accident is the latest film from director Pou-Soi Cheang (Shamo, Dog Bit Dog, and Love Battlefield) and producer Johnnie To (Mad Detective, Election, PTU) via To’s Milkyway Images production.

It tells the story of a crack team of assassins led by Brains (Louis Koo) who instead of forcefully killing their foe, instead come up with elaborate plans to make the murders look like every day accidents.

Each ‘accident’ is painstakingly put together with every minor detail taken care of. It’s this attention to detail which quickly grabs the viewers’ attention from the very opening scene. Throughout the first scene it quickly becomes obvious that someone is going to die, but the question is how? The camera is cleverly used here to redirect and manipulate the viewer into thinking something is there or that something is going to happen when in fact we are just being misdirected (a theme which becomes the very centre of the story later on).

Not only is this scene incredibly put together but with very little dialogue used we are not only fully aware of what is going to happen but also quickly introduced to the group of ‘assassins’ and their roles within the team.

What we have here folks could very well be the best Hong Kong film in recent years.

Brains (played by Louis Koo) is the leader of this team, a man both amazingly intelligent yet incredible careful. Brains is the one who captains most of the hits as well as paying very close attention to the actions of his crew. Yet so paranoid of being caught out in an ‘accident’ himself is Brains; He carefully positions objects and mirrors within his own apartment so that no matter where he is within his home he can always see the points of entry and risks.

The other members of the team are made up of Johnnie To regular Suet Lam who plays ‘Fatty ‘(yep again!). Fatty is the only member of the team who talks with and collects money from the clients.

Michelle Ye and Lucky Star (Fung Shui Fan) who plays Uncle and who can also be seen in the new Johnnie To movie ‘Vengeance, make up the rest of the team.

As mentioned earlier, dialogue is sporadic with many scenes heavily dominated by the atmosphere created by both the camera and the excellent acting. At times more is said through silence than could be said through dialogue. The use of the camera is so splendid that at times you could be forgiven for thinking this was an art-house movie.

Accident is very much a movie of two halves. The first part of the story builds the characters of the team involved, going into great details regarding the setting up of two ‘accidents’ in particular and the relationships between all four. The setups themselves are very much like domino places, their job is to create the link that pieces everything together one false move and the entire chain of events is lost. We also get a little glimpse into past and the psyche of Brains, as we are briefly taking back to an accident involving his wife.

The second accident nicely sets up the second act, as events take an unfortunate twist as a well planned accident takes a turn for the worst.

Brains confused as to what went wrong after the operation, quickly goes into overdrive rushing from location to location trying to work out who could have set them up. Whilst the second half of the films pacing does slow down dramatically the quality does not. Throughout, the quality of not only the presentation but the acting is second to none. Louis Koo (in probably his best performance) is outstanding, to quickly follow the brilliant Overheard with this arguable superior film should finally put him on every director’s radar.

Another stand out performance is that of Richie Ren (playing Chan Fong-chow). Whilst his role is relatively small in terms of real screen time, he is arguable the most important character as in the second of the film he becomes Brains’ subject an put under close surveillance(Koo briefly reprising his role from Overheard , to lay out surveillance bugs throughout Chows home) .

The fact that Accident is at times thought provoking, unsettling, and even emotional is a testament to the quality of the team involved, short on dialogue but high on tension is a great way to describe it.

Accident must truly be regarded as one of the best movies of 2009, I would not be surprising to hear Hollywood knocking on the door for the rights to the remake – but before they do please do see this film. Even if you are not a fan of slow burning thrillers you will quickly be drawn into Accident.

Not only is this film (as Brains says about Chow) clever and flawless but it’s also thought provoking.

Hong Kong cinema as been on the up of late, the quality of output from Hong Kong really has been impressive and Accident is a shining example of a great Hong Kong thriller that can rely more on brains than brawn to entertain and thrill its audience.

John Woo - Vogue!

Beautiful ideas, Amazing character development and thought provoking scenes are just some of the reasons why Asian movies and directors are regarded by many as the best in the world. But for those new to the world of Asian cinema, who are the directors to keep a eye on? Do you really know what movie/director to look for when you go into your local video store ? (they still have video stores these days right?).

Later this month AMP (did you know that stands for Asian Movie Pulse and is not a type of Primate?) will be producing some great guides on Asian cinema. Our guides will be split based on Countries, Genre and Themes, so be sure to check out the guides when they arrive this month. But for now check out the excellent article over at our friends FlixUnlimited.

Park Chan Wook - "My hand is NOT stuck to my face I'm just cool like that!"

They have produced a quick list of some of the most influential directors in Asia (and I gotta say , for the most part I completely agree with their choices)

Here is a run down of the Top 10 Asian Directors as mentioned in the Flix Unlimited article (in no particular order, unless you are of the belief that 1 is greater than 2 and 3 + 4 does in fact equal 7? think about it… )

1. Hideo Nakata (famous for the Ring/Ringu series of Japanese Horror Movies)
2. Banjong Pisanthanakun (director of the fantastic ‘Shutter’ Thai Horror Movie – possibly the only movie to make me jump! – for the right reasons)
3. Katzuhiro Tomomo (Hello?? Akira? Steamboy??? Hello??)
4. Park Chan Wook (If you dont know the movies of Park Chan then you should be ashamed with yourselve! ashamed I tell you!! Oldboy?, Thirst?)
5. Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of the Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower (I wish I could come up with movie titles as cool as these) )
6. Tsui Hark (Once Upon a time in China, A Better Tomorrow)
7. Johnnie To (My personal favourite ! – Exiled, Election, Vengenance)
8. Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke , Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle (personal favourite no 2) )
9. Takashi Miike (God Bless you Takashi! – Ichi The Killer!, Visitor Q, Izo)
10. John Woo (Probably the most famous Asian director today, and the only one to really make the crossover to Hollywood successfully – A Bullet In the Head (is what you wil get if you dont go out and find some movies by John Woo!!! hehe no not really, actually yes .. yes u will!) , A Better Tomorrow 2, Hard Boiled, Red Cliff)

Well there you have it the Top directors from Asia (and the world!!! )

Check out the full article over at FlixUnlimited

Is someone missing from the list? (No is the simple answer .. maybe:?) Let us know – Can you think of any honorable mentions? reply via the comments system

(If you’re MAN ENOUGH!).

Even though most film makers change their caste from film to film, it is not the same with Johnnie, who has been loyal with his group. The movies made by To are with the same group of actors, cinematographers, and screenwriters. Basically, the movies produced by Johnnie deal with the changes of the society of Hong Kong, or themes like fate and friendship. This producer and film maker is often considered to be multifaceted due to his capability to change over genre and tones from one movie to the other. Regardless of this fact, Johnny generally has a fixed style that involves mixing social observation and subdued realism infused with stylized acting and visual elements.

Milkway Image, the production company that is based in Hong Kong is owned by Johnnie along with Ka-Fai, his frequent co-director. Johnnie began his career at the age of 18 years in the capacity of a messenger for TVB, a television studio based in Hong Kong. It is from here that he started moving forwards in his career. Shifting gears forward, Johnnie started working in the capacity of a director and executive producer on TV shows, and he started this in 1973. Even though he shot his initial theatrical feature in the year 1978, he kept on working for TV.

He has worked in the capacity of director, producer, and even producer & director of many movies. Some of them are: The Enigmatic case, Seven Years Itch, The Eight Happiness, A Moment of Romance, The Royal Scoundrel, Casino Raiders II, A Moment of Romance II, Only Fools Fall in Love, Beyond Hypothermia, The Odd One Dies, A Hero Never Dies, Where a Good Man Goes, and his latest movie that is slated for a 2010 release… Death of a Hostage! In all, Johnnie has made 10 films along with Wai Ka-Fie. The reputation that Johnny has earned overseas… something tough for a film maker based in Hong Kong, can be gauged by the fact that even reputed critics like Ignatiy Vishnevetsky praised his work.

These are the exact words that Ignatiy Vishnevetsky used to describe the work of Johnnie: “To has directed some of the best movies of the last two decades; he is more astounding than almost any other director working today. His cinema is exciting (but never tiring), intelligent (but never distanced), and, above all, emotional.” This is not the sole acclaim that this film maker from Hong Kong has received. In fact, most of his critics are amazed by the fact that Johnny has been able to make movies that are not just popular in Hong Kong, but have also been able to become commercially viable all over the world. “All about Ah-Long” which was released in 1989 and which starred Chow Yun-Fat and which went on to become one of the biggest hits of 1989, was the movie that was responsible for making Johnnie as famous as he is today.

Vengenance is a  stylish thriller and with a script written by the Ka-Fai Wai (who also worked on the fantastic Mad Detective), i have nothing but high hopes for this film. The film was officially launched at the recent Cannes film festival in France but as of yet there have been no further releases in any other markets.

No UK or US release date is set for this movie as of yet, But ill keep you all posted when i have more news.

Update: Hong Kong Release for this film is now scheduled for August 20th 2009.

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