Saturday

I was going to say in my review of Exiled that it reminded me of Shakespeare. I stopped myself, obviously, because I thought it was a bit of a stupid comparison. But I don't think I was too far off. Shakespeare worked within a lot of conventions. In the sense of the plot, you pretty much know what's going to happen in a Shakespeare play. You watch it mainly because of the language. In that way, I think Johnnie To's films are similar. The Hong Kong gangster movie is prolific. They've been making them since the 80s, I think. There must be hundreds by now. So, Johnnie To is working within conventions and expectations. He's not trying to surprise you with his plot or his characters - they're all very familiar. His innovations are subtle. The emphasis is on skill, on hard work, on how well he applies the conventions, and when and where. The mere fact that his film is showing at the ICA gives you a hint that these aren't just violent movies. They're carefully crafted. PTU (somehow similar to City on Fire) had much more to say than Exiled, although I found myself thinking both were in many ways about the illusion of home: the exile whose last words were 'let's go home', and the PTU officers who just wanted their shift to end safely.