John Woo: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) Review

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John Woo: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) ReviewForget Christopher Heard's pathetic, hackneyed, dull mockery of a biography, Ten Thousand Bullets. John Woo: Interviews is the best book on John Woo currently on the market. Michael Bliss' Between the Bullets has some interesting insights, but it was a collection of film essays, which focus more on academic, sociological and ideological interpretations of Woo's films rather than an aim at biographical detailing.
John Woo: Interviews succeeds very well at portraying the shy, serious director by meticulous editing, mostly letting Woo's own syntax and verbal mannerisms come through with minimal tampering, and the interviews themselves delve into Woo's troubled relationship with Tsui Hark, his work with both Hong Kong and American film crews, his childhood in Hong Kong, and of course his quartet of Hong Kong classics: A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Bullet in the Head, and Hard-Boiled. My
favourite interviews are the ones with Hard Target director of photography Russell Carpenter, who goes into the nitty-gritties of working with such a visually meticulous director, and an extremely illuminating portion where Woo dissects the unique qualities of his various leading men -- Chow Yun-fat, John Travolta, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Nicolas Cage, and Tom Cruise.
The editing is smartly done, making the interviews flow into an easy read, and each interview is documented so that we have some context for interpretation. I've been reading up on Woo for quite awhile, but I'd say this is the single most comprehensive, multi-angled and absorbing source of John Woo material yet. A great read for fans of Asian cinema, and filmmakers will especially find this book an invaluable source of information for Woo's unique cinematic magic.John Woo: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) Overview
Director John Woo (b. 1946) reinvented the modern action movie and helped open the door for Asian filmmakers to the Western world. His hyper-violent, highly choreographed style made him a box office powerhouse, a respected auteur, and a revered figure among fellow directors.
First discovered by Western audiences through his Hong Kong films The Killer and Hard Boiled, Woo introduced the world to a new brand of psychologically frenzied action film. After coming to the United States in the early 1990s, Woo produced a trilogy of hard-charging action films--Broken Arrow, Face/Off, and Mission: Impossible II--that were both popular and critically acclaimed. But Woo's signature bullet ballets, his kinetic, blood-spattered action sequences, represent a dichotomy in the director's philosophy. John Woo: Interviews reveals a peace-loving, devoutly religious man at odds with his reputation as the master of cinematic violence.
Unprecedented access to the director helped editor Robert K. Elder create in John Woo: Interviews the first authoritative English-language chronicle of Woo's career.
Robert K. Elder writes about film, the arts, travel, and music for the Chicago Tribune. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Premiere, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Gear, the Oregonian, and many other publications. A member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Elder teaches film at the Facets Film School in Chicago.

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