When I saw Johnnie To's "Exiled", it became one of my absolute favorites and I still consider it to be one of the best films of the last few years. It has style, a masterful use of sets and locations, with a gallery of memorable characters.
Amongst the cast one man stood out and totally bowled me over. He turned what could have been a one-note supporting role into a masterful charismatic performance, combining quiet dignity with a dry sense of humor.
I'm talking of course about Anthony Wong as the older hitman called Blaze.
Shortly after that I saw him as a deranged madman in one of his exploitation films and couldn't fathom that I was looking at the same man. And then I noticed how prolific he was, constantly popping up in titles I had already seen years ago.
What an actor...
Which means that once again, I'm going to use a turn in the ScreenAnarchy-O-Meter to do a gallery of 5 close-ups of one of my favorite thespians.
Guess which 5 movies they're from. The "Exiled" pic on the top-left doesn't count.
No competition, no prizes, just for fun, try to see how far you get without using IMDB.
And I'll post the answers Friday (earlier if someone has all 5 of them right).
Good luck!
Anthony Wong is ready for his extreme close-up, Mr. deMille!