It's interesting that Melville was seen as derivative during his latter years, when he was in fact creating his own aesthetics and rythm (a Sergio Leone of film noir, if you will).

For people fans of his style, I can only recommend the work of Johnnie To (and that of his film company, Milkyway Image), in particular The Mission, PTU, and Exiled. Few settings are more Melvillian than Hong Kong by night.

Is there a reliable place to stream/rent Hong Kong movies? Didn’t seem to be on netflix or prime in Canada. I checked iTunes, of the ones you list, only exiled is available, and it’s dubbed.

Know of any legal source? They sound great.

I see several are on Prime Video, seemingly subtitled[1]

1: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=johnnie+to&i=instant-video&ref=nb...

Oh, thanks. I had searched the movie titles above, but hadn't tried the director's name. There's a bunch in Canada too.

Prime video has been pretty good for movies recently, seems to have more than Netflix.

"Drug War" is worth the $2 to rent. So good.

Melville was a new discovery for me in the last couple years. 7 of his films are streaming on the Criterion Channel: https://films.criterionchannel.com/?director=melville-jean-p...

If you like this kind of thing I recommend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Rain_Falling

Sounds good, decided to buy it on amazon. thanks

His Army of Shadows is one of the most harrowing films I've ever seen, particularly a riveting, nail biting scene about prisoners waiting to get shot. Now I understand why he knew how to impart such tension about being in the resistance. This director is a true treasure of his time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_Shadows

This, Kanał, and Come and See are some of the best alternatives to stereotypical US WWII films.

Another French "WWII" film with an amazing production story is Children of Paradise:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Paradise#Productio...