“Vengeance” competing for the Palme d’Or
Johnny Hallyday and Johnnie To present "Vengeance" in Competition
Undeniably, one of the major events of the day is the arrival in Cannes of Johnny Hallyday and Hong Kong director Johnnie To for the Competition screening of Vengeance, a chillingly somber crime movie of the sort only Johnnie To knows the recipe for. France’s national rock star, surrounded by To regulars like Simon Yam, Suet Lam, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, and Lam Ka Tung. He plays a retired hit man who decides to ply his trade again to avenge the murder of his daughter, the victim of the machinations of a handful of thugs. A part that was initially tailored to Alain Delon…
This is not yet another trivial tale of gangsters shooting it out. Vengeance – Johnnie To’s fifth feature to be selected at Cannes, after Breaking News (2004), Election (2005), Election 2 (2006), and Triangle (2007) – will strike any cinephile as a heartfelt tribute to the French director Jean-Pierre Melville, so fervently admired by To and fellow Hong Kong cineaste Woo. And when To is asked what he thinks of "the French Elvis Presley" as an actor, To replies: "He arrived very concentrated, ready to work. He asked few questions. He just wanted to know if his idea of the scene was the same as mine. He was accurate in his acting, his gestures. His sincerity was clear. We believe in him. He’s real. And he did nothing other than devote himself to the film, which is wonderful when you think that in Hong Kong, actors are usually doing two or three films simultaneously! He really gave us all of himself and his time."
