53rd San Francisco International Film Festival 22 April - 6 May 2010
FILMS/
VENGEANCE
World Cinema
Hong Kong/China/France, 2009, 108 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Tue, Apr 27 / 9:45 / Kabuki / VENG27K
Fri, Apr 30 / 12:45 / Kabuki / VENG30K
CREDITS
- dir
-
Johnnie To
- prod
-
Michèle Petin, Laurent Petin, Peter Lam, John Chong, Wai Ka Fai, Johnnie To
- scr
-
Wai Ka Fai
- cam
-
Cheng Siu Keung
- editor
-
David Richardson
- mus
-
Lo Tayu
- cast
-
Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Lam Ka Tung, Lam Suet, Simon Yam, Sylvie Testud
- source
-
IFC Films, 11 Penn Plaza, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001. EMAIL: nabaruch@ifcintheaters.com.
What is vengeance if you can’t remember who it is you’re avenging? Isn’t memory what vengeance is all about? Vengeance is always personal, and usually results in at least a few more deaths than originally intended, many of them more than a little mordantly ironic. That’s part of what makes a revenge thriller thrilling, and Johnnie To’s terrific, slow-burn triad actioner Vengeance, adds a memory glitch to those thrills. Vengeance is a rich, fragrant reduction of To’s favorite themes (male bonding and codes of loyalty, the triad underworld, vengeance) trademarks (slow-motion clouds of blood, unforgettable set-pieces, impossibly sleek cinematography, brooding men, black humor) and actors (Anthony Wong, Simon Yam, Lam Suet). One splendid difference: Vengeance stars French actor and singer Johnny Hallyday (adding a nice tip of the chapeau to the French noirs of the ’60s, when Hallyday had his rock and roll heyday). Hallyday plays François Costello, a Parisian restaurant owner who is in Macau at the request of his daughter—to avenge a savage attack on her family. Costello crosses paths with a crack team of triad hit men, whom he then hires to carry out his own revenge plan—a plan growing increasingly hazy due to his deteriorating memory. The craggy, lived-in face of Hallyday is as riveting as To’s mad scenes of mayhem, which include a fierce nighttime shootout as clouds pass over the full moon and—shootouts being To’s stock in trade—an epic battle in a junkyard that has to be seen to be believed. Vengeance, indeed, is a dish best served by Johnnie To.
—Tod Booth
 |  |
