Review of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) by Sean G — 08 Mar 2012

"I am amazing." It's basically neo-noir meets the gangster genre. Not only was it my 1st John Cassavetes (what an awesome name), twas also my 1st Ben Gazzara. Both of these dudes mean business.

If Cassavetes was influenced by Scorsese, then Tarantino and Fincher were influenced by this guy. Cassavetes crafts an elegant tale, exploring hopelessness and masculinity. Something else that was interesting: no music, ever.

This gave it a very raw, appropriate feel. I also watched it on Hulu, and it made me realize somethin. I've gone years without seeing a movie on tv, and when I do, it's cuz I've already seen it.

Now, I'd like to think Ima fairly patient guy. Commercials don't really bother me, or at least I thought they didn't. But these commercial breaks took so much of the experience away from this film (and yet, they were only 30 seconds long).

They were ill-timed and made for rough transitions. I feel like this messed with the pacing, ugh. This was prolly my last Hulu movie, which sorta sucks, cuz I like Hulu and I'm glad they were offering this film.

But if future experiences would be similar, I just couldn't take it. Apparently, you should stay away from the first cut of the film, cuz it's "too long" and adds meaningless scenes.

Frankly, I'd like to view that cut, to see if that statement holds true. I didn't quite fall head over heels for it, but I was impressed nevertheless.