Martin Scorsese Marathon

Distribution Deal for Johnny To’s Mad Detective

December 4th, 2007
Written By: Marina Antunes

Mad Detective Movie StillFellow cohost and movie buddy Colleen saw Johnny To and Ka-Fai Wai’s Mad Detective with me at VIFF and I think her exact words were something like “That was the best opening for a movie I’ve seen this year!” I can’t say I blame her either.

I’ll admit I’m not particularly versed in either Johnny To’s work or Honk Kong cinema in general, but I was enough “in the know” to recognize the name and bookmark the movie as something to keep an eye on. The film is about a strange detective that solves crimes by seeing suspect’s inner thoughts. After a long absence from the force for mental-health reasons, he is brought back to track down a missing officer.

This was great fun at the theater and at some point in the future, the closing scene would make an excellent Finite Focus feature but for now, I’m happy to report that IFC has picked up the film for theatrical distribution and via video on demand on the same day as part of their “First Take” program.

I hope they give this a fairly wide release. I’d love the chance to see this again on the big screen again.

In the meantime, check out the wicked trailer below.

7 response about Distribution Deal for Johnny To’s Mad Detective »

  1. “That was the best opening for a movie I’ve seen this year!”

    That is a great opening shot isn’t it? The film is pretty good too, sure it’s lightweight even my Johnnie To standards, but the lead actor is a blast, and the final sequence with the Mirrors - Oooooo, J.T.’s god mad skillz.

    Comment by Kurt Halfyard — December 4, 2007

  2. Marina, my opinion still hasn’t changed. That was the best opening scene I have seen all year. I thought I might have to leave the theatre it was so funny. Luckily it wasn’t nearly that funny through out the rest of the film. First five minutes 10/10!

    Comment by Colleeny — December 4, 2007

  3. Agreed on the mad skillz bit. That closing scene is bloody brilliant. So simple yet darned effective!

    Comment by Marina Antunes — December 4, 2007

  4. Have you checked out Breaking News (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414931/).

    It has a great opening scene thats pretty hard to imagine being pulled off in one shot.

    Comment by John Allison — December 5, 2007

  5. I envy you all for having a chance to see this. No UK release even vaguely mentioned as far as I can see .. It makes me sad :(

    Comment by _ram-jaane' — December 5, 2007

  6. No I haven’t. There’s another one for my zip list.

    Comment by Marina — December 5, 2007

  7. To bad the rest of Breaking News is pretty bad. I own the film for that opening shot alone. Awesome.

    Comment by Kurt Halfyard — December 5, 2007

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