Election and Triad Election.

"One of the greatest action directors working in the world and one of the most excitingly prolific, [Johnnie] To amassed a notable list of credits in the 1980s and 1990s before his films started showing up on the festival circuit," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. "In its size and uneven quality, his recent output can bring to mind those golden-age Hollywood professionals who, come hell, high water or inferior script, would reliably do their part to meet the studio's sausage quota."

Ostensibly, she's reviewing Triad Election as a followup to AO Scott's review of Election, but both end up recommending both films. Scott: "Triad Election, which takes place two years later, has a higher quota of action-movie set pieces and is therefore more likely to be a crowd-pleaser. But while the two films stand alone perfectly well, they also enrich each other."

Updated through 4/27.

The occasion for the doubled doubles is the double feature at Film Forum, running through May 8.

Michelle Orange in the Voice: "To's rangy camera circles its cagey subjects like prey, sometimes drawing in for a close, almost tender framing of his cut-out characters, sometimes yanking back to find them swallowed by the grandeur of both urban and rural China; each angle - and To's take on the plight of the modern gangster - is inspired."

Mark Asch in the L Magazine: "Election and Triad Election are less an evolution of To's (eminently Netflixable [and of course, GreenCineable] and highly recommended) back catalogue than proof-of-concept, demonstration he has it in him to make credible versions of the movies he's been riffing on all along."

Earlier: David Austin's talk with To for Cinema Strikes Back; Andrew O'Hehir (Salon); "Wrapping NYFF" and "PIFF Dispatch. 2."

Update, 4/27: "To is the foremost genre auteur working in the world today, and Election 2 is emblematic of the kind of classicism, purity of filmmaking, and forthright slickness at which To excels as a storyteller," writes Daniel Kasman.

Posted by dwhudson at April 26, 2007 1:18 PM