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Johnnie To film makes noise at Venice
2006-09-07
Hong Kong director Johnnie To has hammered audiences at the Venice Film Festival with "Exiled", a noisy, high body-count gangster movie which is competing for a Golden Lion. To's action film, about honour among thieves, follows a group of jaded hit-men intent on settling old scores and making a quick buck. Set in the gambling haven of Macau before the former Portuguese colony's handover to Chinese rule, it stars Anthony Wong as a hit-man sent to eliminate renegade gang member Wo (Nick Cheung), who is trying to make a new life with his wife and baby. Intricate fight scenes and tight choreography characterise this blood-spattered epic a la Quentin Tarantino. The painstakingly-shot scenes are reminiscent of the late Sam Peckinpah, who made the bloody "Straw Dogs" and "Cross of Iron". "It was very difficult to shoot. I have to thank the actors because they really gave everything," said the maverick To, whose gangster movie "Election" was a big winner at the Hong Kong movie awards this year. "I think every director wishes and dreams for the greatest possible freedom," the director said in Venice when the dust settled after a critics' screening of his all-action movie. "My production company has always tried to find its own style to be independent but it is difficult to make a succesful film because you really need to have the resources." To's "Throw Down" was screened in the official competition here in 2004 and his "Breaking News" and "Election" were official selections at Cannes. To is currently filming "The Sparrow" about four pickpockets. The film is among 22 vying for the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice festival, which ends Saturday. For the first time at the 12-day festival, British director Stephen Frears' "The Queen" has become both the critics and the public's favourite for the Golden Lion, according to a daily estimate by Italian film magazine Ciak.
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