A key masterpiece in the To oeuvre, The Mission is pure cinema. When gangland boss Lung is threatened with assassination, he turns to old associate Curtis, who rounds up a crack team of gunmen as a bodyguard force. Three ambushes and the dead time of gangster bonding between lead to an unexpected coda. This is the director’s master class on how movement and stasis define space. The film’s form and content are one: protecting and controlling the space of violence around Lung. To’s principle of action-stillness reaches its purest expression here: the shopping mall set piece illustrates how montage, precise framing, and rhythmic control create an impression of action-velocity from a series of elegant still shots. (S. Kraicer)
