THE KILLER/Austin Film Society

Moving along in our Hong Kong Series we got to see this shoot-em-up action film that was my favorite thus far.  While Chale had warned us about the 60, 000 shots fired and some close women friends refusing to see it because of it's violence I found the themes of loyalty, love, honor, fixing a terrible mistake appealed to my very female interests.  The killing was not for killing sake and I loved the emotional relationships of the cop and killer and the killer and his girlfriend.  An intern (Programming Apprentice) provided 4 pages of program notes that were more than thorough.  My favorite piece of info is that John Woo got his love of films from his mother who took him regularly to the cinema as a child because he could get in for free. How many filmmakers have shared that history?  Going to the films every week-end because they were poor and having their worlds made so much larger. I was brought to films at a very early age in the Bronx by a poor mother. Many adult films that I remember vividly.  I continued that practice throughout my own life and  then my children's lives.  When people ask me how I get the energy to do as much as I do here in Austin the answer is quite simple for me.  I am not "doing" anything just keeping my mind and heart open to receive other people's experiences, interpretations, thoughts about life.  By being in the audience I have received so much.  It is the filmmaker that is doing all of the "doing."