The Hire *
Various, 2001-2002
US
@ MoMA

Eight films produced by BMW of North America: Ambush (John Frankenheimer), Chosen (Ang Lee), The Follow (Wong Kar-Wai), Star (Guy Ritchie), and Powder Keg (Alejandro González Iñárritu) (all 2001); and Hostage (John Woo), Ticker (Joe Carnahan), and Beat the Devil (Tony Scott) (all 2002). With Clive Owen as "the driver."

Frankenheimer's is straightforward car chase with just a bit of narrative twist at the end. Lee has more of a twist, and more time outside the car. WKW does exactly his thing, and is the chase even really a chase? Ritchie's stars Madonna as a spoiled diva who gets tossed around in the back seat due to Owen's driving. The last three expand the narrative element some more. I guess you can probably find these all together on BitTorrent or something, but it was nice to see them full-force on a big screen. And MoMA used a Cinemascope-width screen, but the credits scrolled in an Academy frame, so they started on the floor and ended on the ceiling, which was a nice if unintended effect.

See also: IMDb