Directed by Johnnie To • 2004 • Hong Kong
Starring Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok, Cherrie Ying
One of the most personal films by the prolific Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To is a thrilling love letter to both the cinema of Akira Kurosawa and the art and philosophy of judo. Amid the neon-drenched nightclubs and gambling dens of Hong Kong’s nocturnal underworld, the fates of three wandering souls—a former judo champion now barely scraping by as an alcoholic bar owner (Louis Koo), a young fighter (Aaron Kwok) intent on challenging him, and a singer (Cherrie Ying) chasing dreams of stardom—collide in an operatic explosion of human pain, ambition, perseverance, and redemption. Paying offbeat homage to Kurosawa’s debut feature, SANSHIRO SUGATA, To scrambles wild comedy, flights of lyrical surrealism, and rousing martial-arts action into what is ultimately a disarmingly touching ode to the healing power of friendship.
Up Next in Johnnie To Essentials
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Three
Directed by Johnnie To • 2016 • Hong Kong, China
Starring Zhao Wei, Louis Koo, Wallace ChungWhen three disparate souls—a doctor desperate to redeem her reputation (Zhao Wei), a policeman who will go to any length to seek justice (Louis Koo), and a criminal with a gunshot wound to the head (Wall...
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Blind Detective
Directed by Johnnie To • 2013 • Hong Kong, China
Starring Andy Lau, Sammi Cheng, Guo TaoDirector Johnnie To blends his signature mastery of the crime drama with freewheeling comedy and whirlwind romance for this madcap screwball procedural, bolstered by the chemistry and charisma of superstars ...
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Mad Detective
Directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai • 2007 • Hong Kong
Starring Sean Lau Ching-wan, Lam Ka-Tung, Andy OnA wild, hallucinatory blend of police procedural and supernatural surrealism, this dizzyingly offbeat crime drama centers on the eccentric Inspector Bun (Sean Lau Ching-wan), a clairvoyant...
