Mike’s Murder (1984)

We don’t see the murder. Director and writer James Bridges apparently filmed one, and it was part of the negative test screenings that forced him to re-edit and structurally rearrange Mike’s Murder (1984) before its release. The original intention with Mike’s Murder was a film that was subjective with dream sequences and flashbacks; what was […]

Sparrow (2008)

Movies in love with the movies. Hong Kong director Johnnie To began making Sparrow (2008) over three years in between other projects, most of them crime movies about cops and/or gangsters like Election and Exiled. There’s an element where it feels like Sparrow was another lane to escape to, and even though it is still […]

Boiling Point (1990)

Takeshi Kitano treats violence with the same structural impact as building a gag in comedy. Boiling Point (1990) veers between violence as a joke – a call back, or a punchline, like when a young kid refuses a helmet on his first motorcycle, and then cut to him sitting stunned with a bloody face – […]

A Bittersweet Life (2005)

Watching Squid Game: Season 2 and I’m observing the man in the black mask, the Frontman, thinking, “What a handsome guy.” And Sally was reading up on the actor Lee Byung-hun, listing off his credits and little bulbs were popping off in my head, “Oh right, he was in The Magnificent Seven remake, The Good, […]

Ash Is Purest White (2018)

Wanting to explore more of Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s filmography, Ash Is Purest White (2018) intrigued me because of how it appeared. In the poster and key images I’ve seen, the film is marketed as a romantic crime movie. And yet, that’s only one third of the story. While I was watching Ash Is Purest […]