Midnight Screenings 2007 / Exiled / Hong Kong, China, USA 2006
It’s 1998. The Portuguese colony of Macau is being transferred to Chinese control. In the chaos of the end of an epoch everyone tries to snatch what they can. Former gangster Wo just wants to live in peace with his family. His past however catches up with him in a way he hadn’t expected, and he sets out with four of his former colleagues on a nostalgic mission, just like old times.
Wo once tried to kill his superior, Hong Kong mafia boss Fay. Since then he’s been on the run. Though finally settling down in Macao with his wife and small child, he knows that one day Fay will send his people for him. He doesn’t expect it to be so soon however, or that he would know the hit men so well. Events are hampered by the arrival of two gangsters who are, in fact, meant to protect him. Thus, after all these years, Wo meets up with old friends who were broken up by their services for different gangs. The five ageing killers recall their notorious past and set out on one more mission together… Johnnie To films yet another Hong Kong homage to the westerns of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, in which the spectacular gunfights and scenes of the proverbial “bloody ballet” alternate with nostalgia for the old days and reflections on the value of honour, friendship, and solidarity. The leading roles are played by the acting elite of East Asian cinema.
109 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Johnnie To
/ Screenplay Szeto Kam Yuen
/ Dir. of Photography Cheng Siu Keung
/ Music Guy Zerafa
/ Editor David Richardson
/ Producer Johnnie To
/ Production Media Asia Group
/ Cast Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Simon Yam, Nick Cheung, Josie Ho, Roy Cheung, Lam Suet
/ Contact Media Asia Group
www: www.exiledthemovie.com
Johnnie To (b. 1955, Hong Kong) is one of the most prolific and versatile creative talents of Hong Kong film. Since the beginning of the 1980s he has filmed in quick succession action movies (like The Heroic Trio, 1993), zany comedies (Love on a Diet, 2001), and serious dramas (All About Ah-Long, 1989). After a less successful period at the turn of the century, the director got his second wind with films that bring together action and more serious themes such as violence in the media (Breaking News, 2004). His work regularly appears at the festivals in Cannes, Venice, Toronto, and elsewhere. As opposed to his colleague John Woo, To never left for Hollywood and helped keep the Hong Kong film industry running through his production company Milky Way, which he co-founded, after the city’s transfer to China in 1997.
Media Asia Group
24/F Causeway Bay Plaza, 463-483 Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay, , Hong Kong
China
Phone: +852 231 442 88
Fax: +852 231 442 48
E-mail: [email protected]
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