When John Woo was a child, living in the dangerous slums of Hong Kong, he had two sanctuaries: the church and the movie theater.
Both provided respite from a world of poverty and intense violence.
He’d use a flashlight to illuminate the glass and, shifting the light, project moving images onto the wall.
That 1989 film, starring his frequent collaborator Chow Yun-fat, proved a major work that established both Woo’s style and our notion of modern action cinema.
And yet, even as his so-called “bullet ballet” films went on to influence an array of popular culture makers, including the Wu-Tang Clan and Quentin Tarantino, Woo said he never particularly cared for action films.
Persons:
John Woo, Woo, Oz ”, it’s, Chow Yun, Wu, Wu - Tang Clan, Quentin Tarantino
Organizations:
Wu -
Locations:
Hong Kong, Wu - Tang