Dead Knot

Rescued by the Hong Kong Film Archive, this is the earliest surviving trace of John Woo's beginnings as an indie film-maker. A psycho-drama in the vein of Anger's Fireworks, it's divided into eight short chapters. A young man (Woo) tries to escape from a gay sado-masochist relationship into a 'normal' relationship - with a girl! - but ends up back where he started, unable to buck his deepest desires. Whatever light this may shed on Woo's later work, it's fascinating for teasing out the subtext from the perverse swordplay bloodbaths which Chang Cheh was making at the time (Golden Swallow, etc). Co-director Wong is now better known as Sek Kei, a leading film critic. The HKFA print is a 35mm blow-up from a damaged 16mm original.