SPL: Paradox (Wilson Yip, 2017)

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It’s unclear if this film is actually a continuation of the SPL series or if it just started as one and then mutated into its own thing. I thought I saw the characters for “Sha Po Lang” on the title card of the movie though, so I’m just gonna go with it. Regardless, like the second film in the series, SPL 2: A Time for ConsequencesParadox has only a tenuous thematic relation to its forbearers: all of the characters are new. Louis Koo plays a Hong Kong cop who travels to Pattaya, in Thailand, in search of his daughter, who has gone missing. He hooks up with a Thai cop (Wu Yue) as the two uncover an organ trafficking ring with connections all the way to the top of city government. Helping out in the investigation is another cop, a superstitious (possibly psychic) Tony Jaa, star of the last SPL and arguably the best martial arts star in the world today, in what amounts to little more than a guest-starring role. The final villain is played by Lam Ka-tung (Sparrow, Trivisa), which means that the two most important Thai characters in the film are played by Chinese actors. Such are the vagaries of international cinema.

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VIFF 2017 Index

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This is an index to our coverage of the 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival, categorized by writer:

All of Us:
The Frances Farmer Show #15: VIFF 2017 Recap

Sean Gilman:
24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami, 2017)
Claire’s Camera (Hong Sangsoo, 2017)
120 Beats per Minute (Robin Campillo, 2017)
Bad Genius (Nattawut Poonpiriya, 2017)
Future//Present (Maison du bonheur, Fail to Appear, Black Cop, Still Night Still Light, PROTOTYPE, & Forest Movie)
SPL: Paradox (Wilson Yip, 2017)
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2017)

Evan Morgan:
Forest Movie (Matthew Taylor Blais, 2017) & Prototype (Blake Williams, 2017)
Maison du bonheur (Sofia Bohdanowicz, 2017)
Western (Valeska Grisebach, 2017)
Paradox (Wilson Yip, 2017)

Ryan Swen:
“Scaffold” (2017, Kazik Radwanski) & “Let Your Heart Be Light” (2016, Deragh Campbell & Sophy Romvari)
A Skin So Soft (Denis Côté,2017)
Faces Places (Agnès Varda & JR, 2017)
The Florida Project (Sean Baker, 2017)

Jhon Hernandez:
Close-Knit (Naoko Ogigami, 2017)

Nathan Douglas:
Milla (Valérie Massadian,2017)
BC Spotlight (Luk’Luk’I, Never Steady, Never Still, Entanglement, Once There Was A Winter, Gregoire)

Melissa Tamminga:
24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami, 2017)
Sami Blood (Amanda Kernell, 2016)
Top of the Lake: China Girl (Jane Campion, 2017)