Hong Kong

  • John Woo – Hao xia aka Last Hurrah for Chivalry [+commentary] (1979)

    1971-1980ActionHong KongJohn WooMartial Arts

    Synopsis:
    The estate of the Kao family was attacked by Pai an enemy of the Kao family. The last member of the Kao family barely escapes with his life and seeks to avenge himself. His old teacher refuses to help him because he is too caught up in anger and hate. Kao hears of a famous hero in the local town, he tries to befriend him so that he might have his aid in taking revenge against Pai.Read More »

  • Xinyuan Zheng Lu – Ta fang jian li de yun AKA The Cloud in Her Room (2020)

    2011-2020ArthouseDramaHong KongXinyuan Zheng Lu

    It’s winter and 22-year-old Muzi has returned to her home town of Hangzhou for a visit, a new year is around the corner. Her parents are long since separated, her father has a wife and young daughter and her mother is dating, though the old family apartment is still furnished as was. Muzi befriends an older bar owner and her university boyfriend comes looking for her, although no relationships here are straightforward. It takes time to work out how everyone connects to Muzi anyway, there are no explanations or introductions and one scene can shift into another without warning, creating ellipses along the way; it’s less about telling a story than capturing a mood, the same sense of melancholy stasis that settles even over the sudden outbursts of feeling. Read More »

  • Ann Hui – Qian yan wan yu AKA Ordinary Heroes (1999)

    1991-2000Ann HuiAsianDramaHong Kong

    Synopsis:
    Critically-lauded but somewhat distant drama from Ann Hui.

    Review by Kozo (taken from Love HK FIlm):
    Award-winning political drama from Ann Hui treads on rich territory and results in a noble, but emotionally lacking effort. Using the work of real-life activist Father Franco Mella (played here by Anthony Wong) as a guideline, Ordinary Heroes moves from the plight of the boat people through the tragedy at Tiananmen Square with a sweeping view of political activism in Hong Kong.
    The situations and storytelling are top notch but ultimately the film proves a better portrait than a story. The film doesn’t try to educate viewers about Hong Kong’s political history, and instead concentrates on a long-unrequited romance between Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-Sheng and Loletta (now Rachel) Lee. Sadly, that plotline proves of tenuous interest, which isn’t helped any by Lee Kang Sheng’s obviously dubbed acting. The relationships, while affecting, don’t truly reach a conclusion in the film, which is sad because it seems that Hui is reaching for one.Read More »

  • Meng Hua Ho – Jiang Tou aka Black Magic (1975)

    1971-1980CultHong KongHorrorMeng-Hua Ho

    Synopsis:
    A magician makes money by charging people to cast love spells on the objects of their affection. Complications arise when he decides that he wants a customer’s bride for himself.Read More »

  • Ann Hui – Laam yan sei sap AKA July Rhapsody (2002)

    2001-2010Ann HuiDramaHong Kong

    Yiu-Kwok is a high school teacher, having a perfect family. Good times don’t last long, when a student, Choy-Nam, falls in love with him. For dealing with a relationship with Mr. Seng, a beloved teacher of the couple, his wife Man-Ching requests a leave for a month. A midlife crisis mixing with pressure sends him into an emotional tailspin. Everything seems to lead him towards Choy-Nam, the forbidden fruit. History seems to repeat itself.Read More »

  • Ann Hui – Tin shui wai dik ye yu mo AKA Night and Fog (2009)

    2001-2010Ann HuiAsianDramaHong Kong

    Russell Edwards at Variety:
    Domestic violence gets a compelling once-over in Hong Kong vet Ann Hui’s “Night and Fog,” which rises above its low-budget limitations on the basis of its hot-button topic and stellar performances. Establishing an air of fatalism at the start, this is a distinctly grim companion piece to Hui’s 2008 pic, “The Way We Are,” which offered a more benign portrait of the same Hong Kong town. Hui’s home fanbase should ensure respectable B.O. upon release in May for a subject many would like swept under the carpet. Further afield, the pic will become a fixture of quality fest programs.Read More »

  • Ann Hui – Jin ye xing guang can lan AKA Starry is the Night (1988)

    1981-1990Ann HuiArthouseDramaHong Kong

    A social worker falls in love with a teenager, and remembers an affair she had with a professor while she was at university.

    Quote:
    Cosmo Bjorkenheim@screenslate
    “I spent a year at the Vidal Sassoon headquarters,” brags Lydia (Brigitte Lin), a sprightly social worker trying to impress Tian-An (David Ng), a stock market whiz kid and aspiring hairstylist. It’s a fitting overture for a movie brimming with striking hair, from Tian-An’s very 1987 mullet to Cai-Wei’s very 1966 bob-with-bangs, from Dr. Zhang’s (George Lam) caterpillar mustache to Lydia’s butch-adjacent boy-cut. It works; Tian-An falls for Lydia, and despite their nearly 20-year age difference, their relationship flourishes in health and happiness—or does it?Read More »

  • Patrick Tam – Xue zai shao AKA Burning Snow (1988)

    Drama1981-1990EroticaHong KongPatrick Tam

    Synopsis:
    A young woman is forced to marry an older man who runs a roadhouse saloon. She is constantly being raped by her husband, a drunken loutish brute. She harbors a young man wanted by the police in a murder case, and soon the fugitive and the young wife have a torrid affair as she continues to hide him from the authorities.Read More »

  • Tun Fei Mou – Lian cheng jue AKA A Deadly Secret (1980)

    1971-1980ActionHong KongMartial ArtsTun Fei Mou

    Synopsis:
    Director Mou Tun-fei came to international attention as director of the controversial Man Behind The Sun in 1988. But years prior, he was known for this unremitting tale of kung-fu sadism. Yueh Hua, co-star of Clan Of Amazons and Clans Of Intrigue, tears up the screen as a corrupt magistrate, so obsessed with finding a hidden treasure that he buries his daughter alive, setting off a frenzy of destruction.Read More »

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