Search results for: Paul King

#10. I Saw The Devil - Kim Jee-woon (March 4th) Byung-hun Lee and Min-sik Choi going head to head in a revenge drunk, ultra violent game of cat and mouse, crafted by the headstrong stylings of Kim Jee-woon? Sign me up.

"As the film begins to scale up toward its monumental conclusion – and monumental is the only word for it – Malle’s vision of Paris devolves into a nihilist, gridlocked netherworld of juggling polar bears, fascist restaurants, dream sequences, food fights, dancing girls, destroyed automobiles and enough broken champagne bottles to launch a thousand ships. Just when you thought the film had reached a critical mass of absurdity, there’s always a new, even broader exercise in cinematic Dadaism emerging from the rubble. Eventually both the film and the subway strike resolve and the imaginative world of Zazie returns to normal, but most viewers will find that reentry difficult and even slightly depressing."

Reminiscent of Corneliu Porumboiu's Police, Adjectiv for its marathon run time (film is easily over the two-hour mark, but doesn't feel like it) and wry sense of humor in what essentially tackles the underlining politics in procedural police work, Ceylan's Grand Prix winner (tied with the Dardennes' Kid With a Bike) has found a home with The Cinema Guild folks and though no immediate plans were made for a 2011 release, expect the ideal locations of TIFF and NYFF to provide settings for the North American and U.S premieres.

If one can tune out the film’s ugly socio-politics, The Comancheros can be appreciated as a robustly entertaining adventure. All the Wayne matinee formulaics are in play: spectacular scenery, laconic humor, hot but virtuous damsels, runaway buckboards and a motley assortment of scoundrels; some of whom even see the error of their ways and demonstrate their remorse through exciting heroics.

"The film has not only held up, but has obtained deeper richness with time, taking on the lustrous patina that comes from hand made quality and skillful execution. In only one way does The Hustler resemble an antique; its example of filmmaking excellence is becoming rarer and more valuable every day."