As a director, John Woo remains one of the most recognizable non-Western filmmakers, as well as an individual with a profound impact on the action genre. Prior to his time working in American cinema, Woo was known for his police thrillers, with titles like A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled receiving critical acclaim in Hong Kong. Now, the director has returned to his cinematic roots with Manhunt, a film that has earned a special placement at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.
Manhunt is one of three films added by Alberto Barbera to the 74th annual Venice Film Festival, which will begin later this month. A remake of the 1976 Japanese film starring Ken Takakura, Manhunt is about a Chinese prosecutor, played by Zhang Hanyu, who is framed for murder and sets out on a mission to clear his name. All the while, the prosecutor must avoid those who seek to find him, including a police detective (Masaharu Fukuyama) in charge of his manhunt and a number of mysterious assailants.
The other two films Barbera added to the Film Festival’s lineup include Italian director Andrea Segre’s L’Ordine Delle Cose, and The Enigma of Jean Touch in Turin, directed by Marco di Castri, Paolo Favaro, and Daniele Pianciola. In the former, Serge tells the story of an immigration task force officer sent on a delicate mission in Libya, during which he meets a Somali woman hoping to join her husband in Finland. The latter, by comparison, is a documentary about French filmmaker and cinéma vérité founder Jean Rouch, as well as the making of his 1988 film Enigma.
The Venice Film Festival will begin on August 29 and last until September 10.
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