The Big Heat
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Polish premiereTheatrical Screenings
Kinomuzeum
Kinoteka 4
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Film description
Detective Wong’s life is at a crossroads. With his wedding date set and an injury leaving his hand unable to hold a gun properly, he is considering resigning from the force. However, when he learns that his former partner Tse has been murdered in Malaysia, he drops everything and puts together a team to hunt down those responsible. Up against a formidable enemy, Wong finds himself entangled in a deadly web of intrigue. The Big Heat, the first crime thriller of Johnnie To’s career, spares no sensibilities, plunging viewers into a whirlwind of violence from its opening scenes. Years later, To recalled the collaboration with producer Tsui Hark as challenging, with Tsui arriving on set every day with a revised script. The result is a brutal, uncompromising film that portrays the atmosphere of economic and existential uncertainty a decade before the handover of Hong Kong to China – a far cry from the romantic heroic bloodshed genre that Tsui had pioneered just two years earlier with A Better Tomorrow.
text:
Marcin Krasnowolski
Johnnie To
Born in 1955, a Hong Kong director, screenwriter and producer. He has worked across a wide range of genres and styles, but is best known for his gangster films, including The Mission, Election and PTU. A legendary filmmaker honoured at numerous festivals, he took it upon himself in the late 1990s to keep Hong Kong cinema at the top of its game, a commitment he sustained for more than a decade. He is admired for combining sharp social observation with dynamic visuals and unconventional storytelling. In recent years, he has increasingly turned to co-productions with mainland China.
1980 Bik seoi hon saan dyut meng gam / The Enigmatic Case (współreżyseria)
1988 Wielki żar / Seng fat dak ging / The Big Heat (współreżyseria)
1989 Ah-long dik gu si / All About Ah-long
1995 Mou mei san taam / Loving You
1998 Bohater nie umiera nigdy / Chan sam ying hung / A Hero Never Dies
2001 Miłość na diecie / Sau sun nam nui / Love on a Diet
2003 Daai zek lou / Running on Karma
2005 Wybór mafii / Hak se wui / Election
2007 Psychodetektyw / San taam / Mad Detective
2012 Kartel / Du zhan / Drug War
2016 Trójka / San ren xing / Three
2019 Ścigając marzenie / Wo de quan wang nan you / Chasing Dream
2020 Septet / Baat bou bun / Septet (współreżyseria): Gordon Chan
Kam Yeung-wah
A Hong Kong producer, director and screenwriter, he made his debut as co-director of The Enigmatic Case (1980), which also marked Johnnie To’s directorial debut. The Big Heat was his second film and his second collaboration with To. His final film, Tao wang zhe de mo ri, was released in 2004.
1980 Bik seoi hon saan dyut meng gam / The Enigmatic Case (współreżyseria)
1988 Wielki żar / Seng fat dak ging / The Big Heat (współreżyseria)
1990 Chi se da feng bao / Fatal Termination
1994 Ah sau ging gat: Si gou aat sin / Asian Cop: High Voltage
