{"id":45071,"date":"2020-07-19T14:30:28","date_gmt":"2020-07-19T19:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/?p=45071"},"modified":"2021-05-26T17:12:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T22:12:18","slug":"little-stabs-at-happiness-4-hitmen-with-a-side-of-sukiyaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2020\/07\/19\/little-stabs-at-happiness-4-hitmen-with-a-side-of-sukiyaki\/","title":{"rendered":"Little stabs at happiness 4: Hitmen, with a side of sukiyaki"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Hero Never Dies<\/strong> (1998).<\/em><\/p>\n

DB here:<\/p>\n

Again, with apologies to Ken Jacobs<\/a>, I offer another clip that pleases me in this long, hot summer. For earlier installments, go here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Johnnie To Kei-fung has been one of the leading Hong Kong directors since the 1990s. The first edition of my Planet Hong Kong<\/em> (2000) wasn’t able to incorporate many mentions of his work, but that failing was remedied in my second edition<\/a>, where he got several pages. Kristin and I first met him in fall of 2001, when Yuin Shan Ding arranged for us to visit the set of Running Out of Time 2<\/em>. That was a memorable night, with the bike race shot in an elaborate false street wreathed in noirish city vapor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We spent down time with the stars Ekin Cheng Yee-kin and Lau Ching-wan. It was the beginning of a long friendship with Shan, Mr. and Mrs. To, and the Milkway team.<\/p>\n

Well before this, though, I had been teaching Mr. To’s films in my courses, and I much enjoyed showing–on 35mm, no less–A Hero Never Dies<\/em> (1998). This flamboyant film, about two rival hitmen who unite against the gang bosses who have betrayed them, is a sort of post-John-Woo meditation on the costs of loyalty.<\/p>\n

One sequence that usually got the students going was the men’s first up-close confrontation in a bar.\u00a0Having struck out at each other long-distance, they rendezvous for a face-off–not over guns but over glasses of wine. The clip lacks subtitles, so I should explain that each man instructs the bartender to pour for the other one. Then, after Lau deploys his portion tactically, he refers to Lai’s wrecking his apartment: “This is for destroying my home.” There follows a tabletop action scene.<\/p>\n