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Killer's Romance 1990
Ex-Fest Film #7*: “Hong Kong action adaptation of a popular manga.”
Was planning to bail if this sucked, but instead was totally riveted by a bare bones Hong Kong melodrama that finds the titular hitman navigating warring gangsters in London while falling in love with a photographer who accidentally captures one of his crimes. Sure, there’s a bit too much talky-talky shit, but when this actually jumps off (see: the last 30 or so minutes) it goes completely hog wild…
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Crimson Bat, the Blind Swordswoman 1969
Ex-Fest Film #5: “Underseen martial arts drama.”
Lush, stagey, often gorgeous female-fronted answer to the ZATOICHI movies that’s melodramatically gory and brimming with emotional texture. Sitting next to Simon Abrams during this was possibly more fun than the movie itself, as he was practically vibrating due to the print’s rarity. The sort of stuff you attend rep screenings to discover, as it’s a piece of history lost to time, just waiting for you to become obsessed with the hows and whys of it’s existence (not to mention the ensuing sequels). [35mm]
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Pig 2021
"I remember every meal I ever cooked. I remember every person I ever served."
Went in expecting some sort of artier "JOHN WICK with a pig" bullshit, came out chewing (no pun intended) on an existential rumination regarding how people find meaning in a mostly meaningless world (only to often have it stolen away) with Nic Cage again proving why he's the most beguilingly idiosyncratic actor of any generation. Adam Arkin is also lights out with pretty much a single…
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The Matrix Resurrections 2021
Lana Wachowski’s NEW NIGHTMARE (or DEJA VU). A meta reckoning with the franchise’s place in pop history that simultaneously takes the current IP-driven tent pole culture to task (not to mention those who’d demand/dissect a new MATRIX movie to begin with). At the same time, it’s another swooningly romantic, hyper-dorky auteurist work of live action anime that’s genuinely sweet, thrillingly violent, and undeniably corny/clunky. Folks are gonna be divided on this (I mean, duh, it’s a MATRIX sequel), but I, for one, loved every fucking second of it and can’t wait to go back.
