Thursday, December 10, 2009

88 breaking news (to, 2004)

My first encounter with To was PTU at the 2003 New York Film Festival. I liked it - not so much for its plot (cops v. crooks; the IMDb just reminded me it has something to do with a missing gun) than for its visual style: Hong Kong by sodium streetlights, seen through the kind of curved 'Scope framing that John Carpenter preferred for his 1980s films. Where everything seems to float across a parabolic wave, even if the camera isn't moving.

Breaking News was made a year later, although I didn't catch up to it for some time. I simply didn't think To was worth pursuing. Now I know better.

Marvelous use of interior spaces and an amusing examination of media manipulation. Crackerjack entertainment with complex layers. Very little time to say more, but I hope to dig deeper when I get to...oh that's a secret.

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