A blog formerly known as Bookishness / By Charles Matthews

"Dazzled by so many and such marvelous inventions, the people of Macondo ... became indignant over the living images that the prosperous merchant Bruno Crespi projected in the theater with the lion-head ticket windows, for a character who had died and was buried in one film and for whose misfortune tears had been shed would reappear alive and transformed into an Arab in the next one. The audience, who had paid two cents apiece to share the difficulties of the actors, would not tolerate that outlandish fraud and they broke up the seats. The mayor, at the urging of Bruno Crespi, explained in a proclamation that the cinema was a machine of illusions that did not merit the emotional outbursts of the audience. With that discouraging explanation many ... decided not to return to the movies, considering that they already had too many troubles of their own to weep over the acted-out misfortunes of imaginary beings."
--Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Search This Blog
Showing posts with label Aaron Kwok. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aaron Kwok. Show all posts

Monday, August 24, 2026

Throw Down (Johnnie To, 2004)

Aaron Kwok in Throw Down

Cast: Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok, Cherrie Ying, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Eddie Cheun Siu-fai, Lo Hoi-pang, Calvin Choi, Jordan Chan, Jack Kao. Screenplay: Yau Nai-hoi, Yip Tin-shing, Au Kin-yee. Cinematography: Cheng Siu-keung. Art direction: Tony Yu Hing-wah. Film editing: David Richardson. Music: Peter Kam. 

The narrative and the backstories of Johnnie To's Throw Down are to say the least, oblique. It's a film that almost demands a second viewing to make you understand why some of the things in it happen. Yet largely because of the engaging performances of the three principal actors it all makes sense in the end, even on one viewing. It's a story of three people who meet in a Hong Kong dive: the club owner, Szeto Bo (Louis Koo); a would-be singer, Mona (Cherrie Ying); and a young man who wants to make it big as a judo champion, Tony (Aaron Kwok). Over the course of a few nights and a few fights and mishaps, the three become fast friends. Their friendship culminates in a lovely lyrical moment that has nothing to do with the plot, when they team up to "liberate" a balloon caught in a tree. Throw Down is an homage to Akira Kurosawa via references to his first film, Sanshiro Sugata (1943), and it may help a little to have seen that movie, but To gives us moments of humor and pathos that are very much his own. 

Posted by
Links: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)