As part of an ongoing retrospective of films starring Nicolas Cage, the University of Chicago’s Doc Films screens John Woo’s Face/Off on Thu 1/30 at 9 PM. I can think of few films that better exemplify the whacked-out enthusiasm of a Cage performance (except for maybe Bringing Out the Dead, which is also included on the program). To that point, I can think of few directors better equipped to harness said whacked-out enthusiasm than John Woo, action director par excellence, who’s known for his fascinatingly over-the-top work. Woo’s films are characterized by bullets flying in slow motion, kinetically charged fight scenes, and blatant displays of masculinity. Ultimately, however, these elements prove to be stylistic surface pleasures that sensationalize Woo’s primary concerns: the moral and social complexities of patriarchal gangster milieus. His films, entertaining as all hell, get to the root causes of violence even as they revel in the garish pleasures of violence in movies. My five favorite are after the jump.
- Face/Off
- The Killer (1989) Fun fact: Woo first used his famous “white doves” motif in this actioner about two men on opposite sides of the law who find a common enemy in an evil Triad boss. Legendary Hong Kong director Chang Cheh’s influence on Woo is particularly evident here, seen in the amorphously defined relationship between Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee. There’s a somewhat romantic (some might say homoerotic) nature to their unlikely courtship; like Cheh, Woo is fascinated with male camaraderie, particularly the type that emerges between would-be adversaries.
