Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: ROAD TO VENDETTA [Fantastic Fest 2025 - Austin, Texas]
Finding new voices in Asian cinema who know both influence and how to think out of the box in terms of established norms is an interesting cycle. The West is influenced by The East and vice versa. With "Road To Vendetta", director La-Ying, who seems influenced by an 80s sensibility, took a story like this but made it both balanced and with a sense of heart without turning into melodrama too much. It stays it course while still having to maintain with a certain audience. This is helped by his two leads. Jeffrey Ngai plays an assassin and from an early sequence in a gaming market (which Ying says he did spend a lot of time is as a kid) one gets a structure point of Streetfighter in a way without the monsters. Ngai as Four is a man committed to an organization because he has no other reason to live. He is content and yet he is a loner. Enter Kumo (Sara Manami) who is the client who hires him through the organization though she doesn't seem to grasp that one usually has to have money to pay upfront. There is a degree of these plot holes. Most organized crime elements would be much more brutal in their approach. Ying though is able to create an almost caper with Ngai as Four trying to help Kumo even though he should not have any real connection to her. On top of that they don't speak the same language. One of the interesting structures in the film is how they don't understand each other.
What is interesting in this aspect is that in shooting in Japan, Ying because of his budget had to only bring in himself, his DP, a producer and a focus puller. He relayed this in the Q&A. The rest of the crew (and it seems the cast) he hired in Japan. These elements give the film a unique feel which it might not otherwise have. There is a training sequence that is as much about heart as it is about technique. Ngai has skill but the way he fights is different than more Hong Kong style martial artists. It is more street. That is why a great sequence towards the end that harks back to old samurai films works because it plays against it. Nagai holds the sword different and Ying sees it differently which is part of its allure. Now granted the human drama and melodramatic touches do sneak through every once in a while but they are kept at a minimum so there is a grounded progression while not losing the brutality of the killing. It is not bloodletting but it is not play acting either. When Ngai goes up against a would be sumo who calls him out saying he wouldn't be anything with a gun, Four takes it as a challenge. This is also why John Wick works. The film also does something beautiful in the way it is kept open ended. Now whether this is done because the budget allowed it or because the director had more control over final cut, it still works. This is also Ying's debut feature. He also showed in the Q&A (however brief) that he speaks very good English which is key for global; entertainment. Entertainment is about the bridge and while this is a first step, it is a confident, intense and yet accessible one. B+
By Tim Wassberg
