Sparrow

Something like "Ocean's Eleven" with the style of "In the Mood for Love". Quirky story, incredible cinematography, and an unbelievably elegant and hip soundtrack.

To's obsessions on crime, the living city, malleable morality and double/triple crosses are still here. Thankfully, they all take a back seat to a light, classy, and perhaps even fanciful, tone, thanks to simple yet gorgeous cinematography and a brilliant soundtrack. The result is refreshing.

The most lighthearted you can get while still having sure footing in the crime genre. Plenty of visual and formalist games--symmetrical compositions, and precision staging and camera movement. Simon Yam is suave and grabs the audience's allegiance from the get-go. Johnny To's direction is solid as always. Combined with a great soundtrack we have a winner.

Whimsical and fun with some good performances. The lack of dialogue and unique soundtrack lend the film a dreamlike quality. The story is thin at best and the lack of tension kept me from becoming too invested in anything that was happening. A nice one time watch.

The longer it goes on the less interesting it gets. But the urban cinematography looks sleek and stylish, but giving the city scenes a gritty energy too. The finale is a little overdone but everything leading up to it is intriguing and charming in equal measure. The first pickpocketing scene is a fantastic little sequence.

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

The slow motion climax in the rain is absolutely brilliant. The rest is a solid enough Soderbergh-like buddy crime thing.

ger; [Sparrow]; eine frau bedient sich der fähigkeiten von vier taschendieben aus hong kong, um den zur ausreise nötigen reisepass zu erlangen.; (sehr kurzweilig);

Both a quasi-silent film and a musical (with no singing or dancing) about a woman trying to get rid of a master pickpocket with the help of four brothers (also pickpockets, of course). A film that moves like a bird, sweeping across streets with close range and wide-angled shots, mixing physical comedy, caper tradition and romance in the most playful ways -- a bike with the four bouncing together, the elevator scene and the soft Singin' in the Rain standoff in a traffic light.

In which a pickpocket sets out to steal a woman's heart. It's a delight to see To's gift for clockwork plotting and precise action find such fitting expression here, in which our master thief's vocation puts him at once in the perfect position to save and lose her in the same surreptitious grasp.

A solid crime caper with welcome dashes of romantic comedy. The vibrant, accomplished cinematography and a lush soundtrack simultaneously lighten the mood and provide gravity and class.