KILL LIST: A Gallery of Hitmen

Hitman movies are one of my favorite genres. I like the moral tension, the conflict between being a part and being apart, the slick suits. So while we wait for the genre-bending  Kill List, tonight, here's a little list of cinematic gentleman who live off of blood money. Feel free to share some of your favorites.

Citta Violenta / Violent City / The Family (1970) Charles Bronson plays, Jeff Heston, a double-crossed hitman out for revenge. Jill Ireland plays a pretty woman in the clutches of the evil and salacious gangster played by Telly Savalas, with all the leering salaciousness he can muster. There's a fantastic score by Ennio Morricone. (It serves as my wake up alarm in the morning). And I enjoy how the movie conveys a more European sense of the distance between New Orleans, Louisiana and Michigan.



In The Mechanic (1972), well-established Charles' Bronson's professional hitman takes a young upstart--and even full-on whippersnapper,  (played by a cocky as hell Jan Michael Vincent) as his protege. It's not really a good idea, but it does make for an excellent twist ending.



Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (1977) is a live-action version of Takao Saito's hardboiled manga series. JJ Sonny Chiba plays Duke Togo, a hitman hired by the United States government to eliminate a Hong Kong triad boss. Fans of Etsuko Shiomi/Sue Shiomi will be glad to see her do a little fighting in this film. Features the kind of violence you'd expect from a 1970s Chiba film blended with the coolness of 1970s Hong Kong.



Ostensibly the story of Jeff, a hitman played by Chow Yun-Fat, who's attempting to right a wrong and find a new life with the young nightclub singer he's blinded, played by Sally Yeh, The Killer (1989) is just as easily described as a love story between a noble hitman and a sort of corrupt cop (Danny Lee) who each cross the same moral line. There is, however, a helluva lot of shooting, fashionable suits and style to burn. And I'm sure it's just an accident that the hitman here is named Jeff and is double-crossed by a gangster boss a la The Mechanic.



In Leon: The Professional / The Professional (1994), Jean Reno plays an hitman ("Leon") who takes in a stray girl after her parents are killed. The is one of Natalie Portman's earliest roles, and she does a great job as a girl who desperately tries to convince a hired killer to take revenge.




Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) is a comedy. John Cusack plays Martin Blank, a man who not only has an incredibly Hal Hartley name, but also believes he is conflicted about his life choices. He's forced a therapist (played by Alan Arkin) into seeing him and decides he needs to go to his high school reunion, conveniently located near a job his been hired to do. Blanks' interactions with his therapist are revealing in just how frightening a professional hitman would be in real life. Also, for fight fans, Benny "The Jet" Urquidez does some kicking.



Ghost Dog:  The Way of the Samurai (1999) is a Jim Jarmusch movie. It is very quiet, contemplative and conversational as a hitman movie. That is, it is not action-packed (though it is compared to Broken Flowers). Forrest Whitaker plays Ghost Dog, a hitman who's been trying to understand his profession through the 18th Century manual of bushido, The Hidden Leaves / Hagakure. Unfortunately, its precepts of service, duty and honor get Ghost Dog in trouble with the Mafia.

KILL LIST screening times:

Sat., Sept. 17th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Sun., Sept. 18th, 3:15PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

@thesubstream - Midnight Madness Review - SMUGGLER

A mea culpa, to start: me trying in earnest to apply any kind of critical analysis to Katsuhito Ishii's manga adaptation Smuggler would be like me trying to review the national epic of a country I've never heard of. It comes from a filmic/manga comic place that I know next to nothing about, so I'll just get to summarizing the plot.

Kinuta (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is a mild mannered failed actor turned "slacker", who unwittingly finds himself indebted to a gang of goofy Chinese gangsters. To pay it off, he's told to work with Joe (Masatoshi Nagase), the surly leader of a gang of body disposers. After they dispose of a body of a yakuza killed by the supernaturally-gifted "ultra assassin" Vertebrae, Kinuta, Joe and the Yakuza's widow find themselves in the middle of an alternately goofy and horrifyingly bloody gang war.


The joy in the film, for me and I'm going to assume many Western viewers is in watching the effects-laden ass whippings that Vertebrae hands out. He's scarred and tattooed and borderline psychotic, and he's a whiz with a pair of beaten up nunchuks, and Ishii fills his to be honest kind of disturbing fight scenes with more than a helping of pretty broad slapstick humour.

It's pure hubris that lets me think I can you a good movie from a bad one in the first place, but even I am in major balk-mode trying to decide if Smuggler is worth recommending. It's in more than one language I don't understand: Japanese, Mandarin and the completely all-over-the-place tonal language of manga movies. It pairs saccharine-sweet moments of golly-gee-whizzery with some of the most brutally sadistic torture scenes I've ever seen, and it's utterly baffling in a way that renders it simultaneously super enjoyable and kind of tiresome, to my foreign eyes. It's a mash-up that from moment-to-moment seeks to dazzle, to entertain, broadly, to gross you out, to engage you and to repulse you straight out of the movie-watching experience. It works, a lot of the time, insofar as it does all of those things, but is that rollercoaster experience by design or by dint of my being, well, kind of ignorant? Who knows. The good parts are great, and the bad parts are… different, and that's the smartest thing I can say. Sorry.

If Ya Smelllll.....What THE DAY Is Cookin'!

Good news for fans of The Day and also for those who didn't get to see it when it screened at Midnight Madness or any of the subsequent screenings! It seems that WWE Films (yes, you read that right) has acquired the distribution rights to the post-apocalyptic siege movie.  Dread Central has the full report.

Now, WWE Films doesn't exactly have the strongest track record for its properties, which, up until this acquisition, have all featured professional wrestlers like Triple H, Kane, John Cena, and Stone Cold Steve Austin in prominent roles.  Here's hoping that The Day marks a turnaround for the distribution arm of the most successful sports-entertainment company on the planet and that Vince McMahon won't be digitally adding The Big Show into the background (please, please do me a personal favour and never watch Knucklehead).

The last screening of The Day is TONIGHT!
Saturday September 18  9:45pm Scotiabank Theatre

@thesubstream - Midnight Madness '11 Ep. 09: Smuggler!

Last night's TIFF 2011 Midnight Madness screening of Katsuhito Ishii's Smuggler (a film that guest host Matt Brown of MAMO knew absolutely nothing about) was delayed by an hour due to an unspecified technical glitch! Thankfully, Bobcat Goldthwait, humanitarian and all-round decent human being volunteered to keep the crowds entertained with 15 solid minutes of his hilarious stand-up routine. And Smuggler? It's all over the place, man. thesubstream.com's Midnight Madness coverage continues! ONLY ONE MORE NIGHT - Can you believe it???

Bobcat Goldthwait Saves Midnight Madness

Thanks, Bobcat!

As Ben Kenigsberg reports at Timeout Chicago, last night there were some "technical difficulties" at the MM screening of Smuggler. "Technical difficulties" is an industry euphemism for fun-hating ninjas. I'm as surprised as anyone that (some) ninjas hate fun.

Fun hater?

But God Bless America director Bobcat Goldthwait saved the night when he took the stage for some impromptu stand-up. We hope to have some footage up later, including, ideally, close-ups of Colin Geddes leading MM bloggers, TIFF volunteers and fans against the ferocious fun-hating ninjas arrayed against them, seizing back the Smuggler film cans for the enjoyment of all.

Unidentified fan defends fun.

Smuggler screening times:

Sat., Sept. 17th, 6:45PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

Sun., Sept. 18th, 12:00PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

KILL LIST Screens at Midnight Madness!

Kill List plays Midnight Madness tonight!. What seems like a straight up genre piece becomes something else entirely in this movie about a hitman who accepts a job from some shadowy clients.

Kill List is directed by Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace) and stars Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Harry Simpson and Michael Smiley.

KILL LIST screening times:

Sat., Sept. 17th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Sun., Sept. 18th, 3:15PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

Ando Vs. Ando

 

Spoiler level: Mild (knowledge based on trailer  of Smuggler and the film Battle Royale (not the book or manga, which is supposed to be amazing, but I am scared it will ruin my love for the film) )

Japanese star Masanobu Ando's new movie will be screening tonight (Friday, September 16th, midnight!)  In Smuggler he plays dangerous cargo - as an assassin who is being transported by the main character.  Ando is no stranger to deadly roles, having already been in Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django, and Fukasaku Kinji's Battle Royale.

In an entirely imagined celebrity death match with himself, I present to you:

ANDO VS. ANDO!

Movie:  Battle Royale

That's right.

Character:  Kazuo Kiriyama

Profile:  During the BR act, kids from all over Japan were forced to kill each other, largely against their own will as a way of punishing Japan's out of control youth. However, Kiriyama was so bad ass, that after already improbably surviving a round of the murderously psychotic game, he willingly gave up his hard won freedom and transfered back to a brand new game, just so he could keep smoking people, because it was so much fun.

Weapons of choice:  Moves up from fan, to sub-machine gun  and butterfly knife (skipping over frying pan), to mega phone (so you can hear the death rattles of his victims), to GPS tracking device (no where to hide!)

Weakness:  Explosive collar on throat, tied to game rules. Eyeballs later melt, ruining his chances of appearing in a non time-machine related sequel.

Last Seen:  In the hearts of cosplayers and BR fans everywhere! By the way, this is my most watched favorite movie. I can watch BR back to back to back.

Eyes:  Like staring into the Abyss.

Hair:  Spiky, Peroxide wash, likely used Japanese equivalent of bed head products.

Distinguishing features:  That glazed-over, disconnected look in his eyes that would chill Micheal Myers.

Theme music:  hellsya -- start it at 2:11 if you want to get an instant visual of him walking through writhing bodies and smoldering corpses.

**** VS ****

Movie:  Smuggler

Say that one more time.

Character:  Sebone

Eyes:  Looks pretty pissed off!

Hair: Appears to be more heavily bleached - scalp singingly so!

Weapon of Choice:  Nunchaku! Finally the most badass weapon has returned to the action movie!

Distinguishing Features:  Dark ink spine segments tattooed over his own spine. I hear that it hurts a lot on the bone. Also, that maze of scars tells the violence of a 100 movies!


Fun fact:  His name, "Sebone" - means spine in Japanese.

Weakness:  TBD

Last Seen:  TBD

Profile:  TBD

Theme music:  God, I hope so.

So who's the winner? You guys! As much as I love Kiriyama, Ando looks to have incarnated an entirely new monster in Sebone, cementing his legacy as iconic over the top characters in Japanese genre films.  Here's to hoping someone miraculously awesome will plug my breakdowns into a computer and make a video game of all of this, and also make a solid side-scrolling beat'em up for The Raid. 


Check out Smuggler:


Fri. Sept. 16th 11:59pm, RYERSON
Sat. Sept. 17th 6:45pm, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4
Sun. Sept. 18th, 12:00pm, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

Movies.com Reviews LOVELY MOLLY

Christopher Campbell at Movies.com reviews Eduardo Sanchez' Lovely Molly, writing that "it comes off as a kind of psychical whodunit."

Read Campbell's review here. 

Lovely Molly screens one more time:

Sat., Sept. 17th, 4:00PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

Retrospective of WTF Cinema at Midnight Madness

There's a TIFF programmer in those pyjamas.

Colin has said that this year Midnight Madness is about discovery, but as a (relatively) long time Midnight Madness acolyte, this year feels more like a return to Midnight Madness roots. In the last few years, MM has been associated with cutting edge horror, and while that's true, there's also a long tradition of action, rock'n'roll, documentary, comedy and films that make an audience go, "WTF?"

Smuggler follows in a long line of insanely awesome Japanese movies at MM. Fellow Japanese filmmakers who have shown repeatedly at Midnight Madness include: MM All-Star, Takashi Miike with Fudoh: The New Generation (1997), The City of Lost Souls (2000), Ichi The Killer (2001), Gozu (2003), Zebraman (2004) The Great Yokai War (2005), Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)); Shinya Tsukamoto with Tetsuo/Iron Man/ Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1990), Tetsuo 2 /Tetsuo: The Bodyhammer (1992), and Tokyo Fist (1995); and, most recently,  Hitoshi Matsumoto with Dainipponjin/Big Man Japan (2007) and Symbol (2009).



But less well-known filmmakers like Tetsuro Takeuchi  amazed the Uptown with his "rock'n'roll JET movie," Wild Zero (2000):



And in 1998 Lance Mungia envisioned a future in which the King is dead. (Though MM acolytes know that the King is in a nursing home in Nacogdoches, Texas):



There's also Jung Jun-Hwan's almost uncategorizable  Save the Green Planet (2003)--a brutal sci fi "torture porn" romantic comedy with action elements?



And the animated wonder of Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar's A Town Called Panic (2009)



But for me, the quintessential WTF Midnight Madness movie will always be Pornchai Hongrattanaporn's Bangkok Loco (2005) about a drummer who might or might not have committed murder and can save the world through a drum duel. It features a bunch of Thai visual puns that are probably hilarious if you understand Thai.

SMUGGLER screening times:

Fri., Sept 16th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Sat., Sept. 17th, 6:45PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

Sun., Sept. 18th, 12:00PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

 

Intro/Q&A for SLEEPLESS NIGHT

Here is the Introduction and Q&A for Sleepless Night with action star Tomer Sisley and director Frederic Jardin.

Sleepless Night screens one final time. Tonight!

Friday, Sept. 16th 9:45pm Scotiabank Theatre 11

Red Carpet Interview THE INCIDENT with Director Alexandre Courtes

The Incident had its world premiere Monday September 12th, 2011. I was on the red carpet to talk with director Alexandre Courtes about his feature film debut. Here is the video:

The Incident screens two more times:

Friday, Sept. 16th 3:15 pm Scotiabank Theatre 3
Sunday, Sept 18th 9:45 pm Scotiabank Theatre 2

SMUGGLER Premieres Tonight!

Tonight's the premiere of Smuggler, the latest film from Midnight Madness favorite, Katsuhito Ishii, whose previous films include Funky Forest; Party 7; Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl; and the animated segment in Kill Bill vol. 1.

The film also features Midnight Madness alumnus, Masanobu Ando, who played the vengeful thief in Wuershan's  The Butcher, The Chef and the Swordsman (2009) and Yoichi (Nasu no Yoichi) in Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django (2007). Both Midnight Madness selections. Ando also played Detective Wakamiya in Shinya Tsukamoto's Nightmare Detective (2007) and Kazuo Kiriyama in Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale (2000).

SMUGGLER screening times:

Fri., Sept 16th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Sat., Sept. 17th, 6:45PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

Sun., Sept. 18th, 12:00PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

@thesubstream - Midnight Madness '11 Ep. 08: The Day!

What would you do if the apocalypse came tomorrow? Do you have your machete ready? We asked this question of some die-hard Midnight Madness fans in line for last night's screening of The Day, a dreary post-apocalyptic yarn starring Dominic Monaghan, Shawn Ashmore and Ashley Bell. It was the first real red-carpet affair of this year's Midnight Madness program which got Rajo pretty excited, let me tell you. Or, hell - why not just watch for yourself? thesubstream.com's coverage of TIFF 2011 Midnight Madness continues!

@thesubstream - Midnight Madness Review - SLEEPLESS NIGHT

Capping off a three-night run of French films at this year's Midnight Madness was Sleepless Night (Nuit Blanche), director Frédéric Jardin's frenetic, occasionally frantic story of a bad cop making good in a packed, pulsing mob-rub nightclub.

Tomer Sisley (Largo Winch) plays Vincent, who along with a partner violently and murderously intercepts a shipment of cocaine on the streets of Paris. It's revealed that the two are in fact cops, and that Vincent was recognized during the heist after his mask was torn off. Vincent's son is kidnapped by the vicious Corsican mobster Jose (Serge Riaboukine) who demands that Vincent return the shipment of drugs to him at his club if he's ever - dun dun dunnnn - to see his son alive again.


Vincent has a plan that's immediately (without him knowing) upended by the arrival of more cops, and once everything starts to go sideways, Vincent is off and running through the club, constantly improvising, crawling through ducts and back stairwells.

It's in his geographic wandering, and in the film's deft handling of a bumper crop of plot details - such and such cellphone, such and such bag, such and such pissed off Turkish dude - that Sleepless Night shines. The club itself is a marvel of stitched-together set pieces, with action ranging from a packed dancefloor, up jammed stairs into an industrial kitchen, back-room casino, posh restaurant and the narrow passages that connect them all, as cat chases mouse and mouse turns around and chases right back.

What action there is in the film is spectacular, in particular a brutal piece of realist fight choreography that has two middle-aged dudes huffing and puffing and throwing colanders at each other in a kitchen full of gawping cooks, but the real pleasure is watching how tightly the film controls its complex plot.

The character of Vincent is less-well handled. Vincent's transformation into a hero and a father is crippled by his - and the film's itself - hilariously poor, almost sociopathic treatment of the four women in it. It'd make great fodder for a film school paper on action movie gender relations, and it's legitimately off-putting enough that it took me out of the action, an unfortunate thing as much of the rest of the film runs like a watch.

Midnight Madness' Colin Geddes Interviewed by Blogtastic Voyage!

The good folks over at Blogtastic Voyage talked with our own Midnight Maddened leader, Colin Geddes about the Midnight Madness programme this year.

Colin mentions the 3 films he recommends "if you're in it for the blood and violence" as well as the movies he found funniest this year. And they discuss Kill List, which premieres Saturday night.

Kill List is by a British filmmaker Ken Wheatly, who did the very dry, darkly comic gangster film Down Terrace. How would you compare Kill List to it?

It's a lot like Down Terrace; he really has a knack for capturing these kitchen sink-style dramas. At times you feel like you're watching a documentary because he has a very loose, easy feel with his actors. But then he gets dark and bloody. The audience is not going to know where they are when they walk out of the theatre. It's really, really grim and it gets uncomfortably violent.

Read more, here.

Kill List screening times:

Sat., Sept. 17th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Sun., Sept. 18th, 3:15PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

There are also still screenings of many of the films they discuss in the article including: God Bless America, You're Next, The Incident, Sleepless Night, Lovely Molly, The Day, and Smuggler