A former Judo champion is given the chance to redeem himself after he befriends a competitor and an aspiring singer.
Throwdown, 柔道龙虎榜, 용호방, Yau doh lung fu bong, Rzut na matę, Judo, 柔道龍虎房, Nhu Đạo Long Hổ Bang, คนจริง คู่ใหญ่, Último Duelo: Throw Down, Бросок вниз
Italy Venice Film Festival 
Hong Kong 
Singapore Hong Kong Italy Singapore 
Greatest Moment in Cinema: "Dedicated to Akira Kurosawa, The Greatest Filmmaker" immediately followed by an ad for Gillette.
My wife watched this with me. After she said she didn’t like judo. I said it wasn’t really about judo, it’s about getting back up again after you get thrown down. She said it’s also about money and how it flies out of your hands when you run. And I said it’s also about how sometimes you need someone to pick up your shoes for you.
The most romantic, life-affirming movie ever made about the artistry involved in grabbing another man by the arm and dislocating it by flipping him through a table. A work of making friends and pursuing dreams and having hobbies that make you happy drawn in almost pure, wordless musicality and color. Incredible.
“I want to fight you.”
fuck me. three people just trying their best to better together. you can’t get anywhere in this world alone, whether that’s bettering yourself or just getting a balloon out of a tree. this movie made me cry over two men giving each other judo throws. absolutely perfect.
does the thing that movies are supposed to do, the only thing movies can do that no other art form can, the thing i feel like everyone forgets - tell the viewer something vitally important through images and expressions without relying on story or dialogue to do all the work - and miraculously makes it look effortless. almost unbearably beautiful.
SPARROW unspools as a work of sui generis weirdness, but THROW DOWN nearly gets there through a work of clear genre. To has an old-school reticence to talk about his work as intellectual/auteurist/whatever, but well before THROW DOWN gets to its Kurosawa dedication, it is obvious that this is a personal work. Nominally a take off of Kurosawa's debut, the film quickly settles into its own rhythms, stripped of plot until criss-crossing characters are belatedly revealed to have deeper connections to one another. It is instead a mood piece, of has-beens and never-weres converging around humid jazz dives and whose martial arts skills are, perhaps not coincidentally, related to a discipline of self-defense, not attack, an art that can help…
One of the most personal films by the prolific Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To is a thrilling love letter to both the cinema of Akira Kurosawa and the art and philosophy of judo. Amid the neon-drenched nightclubs and gambling dens of Hong Kong’s nocturnal underworld, the fates of three wandering souls—a former judo champion now barely scraping by as an alcoholic bar owner (Louis Koo), a young fighter (Aaron Kwok) intent on challenging him, and a singer (Cherrie Ying) chasing dreams of stardom—collide in an operatic explosion of human pain, ambition, perseverance, and redemption.
Our edition of THROW DOWN is coming September 21, 2021. Visit Criterion.com to learn more and pre-order.
hands down the greatest romance film of all time -- a film in and about self-love to the point of actualization. reconciling yourself with your body, which interfaces with the land, the city. each throw down itself an acknowledgement of a shared continuity across human bodies. it's not only a respect outwards, but inwards. the joy of tossing someone over your back, the joy of hitting the pavement. a filmic encapsulation of what it means to participate in life, the simultaneous pain and joy of interaction. embrace the struggle.
As the great 90's scholars Chumbawamba once said:
“I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down”
This is a film about picking yourself back up when you are at your lowest. And how sometimes you need a little help from others and that’s okay! It’s also a film about flipping people. So many dudes get judo flipped and it never stops being awesome
I loved these characters so much. I was honestly sad when it ended because I wanted more scenes of them together. The part with the balloon stuck in the tree made me cry it was too cute
Highly recommend this one. It’s colorful, it’s sweet, and the soundtrack is killer. It’s also a love letter and dedication to the great Akira Kurosawa from Johnnie To
“i practice judo too. i want to fight you.”
another johnnie to fangirl review!
WOW. what an electric addition to the criterion collection! sticking with hong kong through thick and thin, to’s throw down is a genre-bending tour de force. appending theatrical flair and friendship to the art of judo injects a warm vitality in the atmosphere. insanely brilliant uses of light, and color—painting beautiful visuals to marry testosterone action. (i mean that scene where the two leads angrily throw each other down in the middle of a karaoke bar? hot asf.) last but not least, the entertaining cast in rhythm with the exciting tone, louis koo, aaron kwok and cherrie ying, ran circles around the three musketeers!
ADORED THIS and i need to watch more kurosawa
Not Dark Yet. . .
My essay for the Criterion release is now up at their site.
"You were deafened."
"At last, you could hear."
"You were broken."
"You were whole."
"You were blinded."
"And at last...
you saw."
