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Hong Kong Film Festival 2001

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane

25 September - 12 October 2001

This year AFI Events and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office presented an exclusive season of contemporary films from Hong Kong's leading filmmakers,
with a special focus on the films of Johnnie To Kei Fung.

PROGRAM:
COMEUPPANCE (Derek Chiu)
A FIGHTER'S BLUES (Daniel Lee) 
FOREVER AND EVER (Raymond To)
JULIET IN LOVE (Wilson Yip)
LAN YU (Stanley Kwan)
THE MISSION (Johnnie To)
NEEDING YOU... (Johnnie To)
RUNNING OUT OF TIME (Johnnie To)
VISIBLE SECRET (Ann Hui)
WU YEN (Johnnie To)

 
HEROIC CINEMA REVIEWS:
Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane reports!

 

 
 FILMS IN DETAIL:
  

THE MISSION (1999)
Dir: Johnnie To
Old school gangster film, rock hard and tense as hell. An absolute must. The plot is the usual (disparate crims are assembled as bodyguards), but the execution is sublime. The shopping mall shootout is beautifully done. Stars Francis Ng, Anthony Wong, Roy Cheung, Simon Yam, and other thugs.

H-C Rating: 10 head shots out of 10

NEEDING YOU... (2000)
Dir: Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai
Candy-perfect office romantic comedy which never runs out of zip. Great script, great gags, and super appealing leads in Sammi Cheng and Andy Lau. My favourite film from 2000. If you can stand the genre, you won't find a better example. If you can't, jeez. lighten up already!

H-C Rating: 10 out-of-control office rumours out of 10

RUNNING OUT OF TIME (1999)
Dir: Johnnie To
Awesome cop vs. thief battle of wits which twists and turns until the last frame. Impossibly clever, and moving in parts. A good spirited film, everyone I've taken to see this one has dug the hell out of it. Andy Lau and Lau Ching Wan excel in the lead roles. My favourite film from 1999, seen it maybe six times in the cinema, can't wait to see it again.

H-C Rating: 10 perfect crimes out of 10

COMEUPPANCE (2001)
Dir: Derek Chiu
Off-beat little movie about an absolute nebbish who gets it into his nerdy brain to start bumping off criminals. A different kind of triad movie, and pretty delightful. Patrick Tam is the non-charismatic killer, Jordan Chan is the reporter who starts to serialise his crimes, and Sunny Chan is the mystified cop. A winner.

H-C Rating: 8 deadly bowls of hot & sour soup out of 10

 

WU YEN (2001)
Dir: Johnnie To, Wai Kai-fai
Deliriously and unapologetically silly costume comedy starring Anita Mui as the emperor (yes, a bloke) who simultaneously falls in love with warrior girl Sammi Cheng and gender-challenged fox spirit Cecilia Cheung. With three gals in the lead roles and ridiculous pop-go-the-weasel sound effects, this is hella fun.

H-C Rating: 8 singing shadow puppets out of 10

JULIET IN LOVE (2000)
Dir: Wilson Yip
Not quite a romance starring smalltime crook Francis Ng and maitre de Sandra Ng as two people who don't quite fall in love while minding triad boss Simon Yam's baby. Full of small, tender and slyly funny moments, with great performances from the leads.

H-C Rating: 8 bottles of Coke out of 10

A FIGHTER'S BLUES (2000)
Dir: Daniel Lee Yan-kong
Andy Lau's 100th film, and you gotta give it to the man, he's the leanest looking forty year old around. The film's basically a love song to himself, which is a pretty good thing if you like him, and verging on insufferable if you don't. But hey, everybody likes Andy, right? The kickboxing redemption story is pretty interesting, the Thai setting is nicely shot and the final stadium fight is a powerhouse, but you gotta wade through a whole lotta melodrama to get there.

H-C Rating: 6 li'l singing orphans out of 10

VISIBLE SECRET (2001)
Dir: Ann Hui 
Not quite spooky ghost film with Shu Qi (you saw her in Storm Riders) as a gal who can see dead people... fine premise, but the end result just doesn't add up to enough of one thing to really make a picture. Not enough comedy, not enough horror, not enough romance. Sigh.

H-C Rating: 5 headless ghosts out of 10

FOREVER AND EVER (2001)
Dir: Raymond To 
Unmitigated weepie about with Sylvia Chang a woman whose haemophiliac son died of AIDS, so she helps other people who are HIV-positive deal with their situation. The real life book was popular in Hong Kong, and the woman's genuine Christian values are faithfully depicted in the film. It may not be for you; hell, I ain't going.

Projected H-C Rating: 5 boxes of tissues out of 10

LAN YU (2001)
Dir: Stanley Kwan 
The latest arthouse film from Stanley Kwan. When he's good (Hold You Tight, Rouge) he's very very good, when he's bad (The Island Tales, Full Moon in New York) he's a plotless meandering yawnfest. That's just my opinion, I generally don't arthouse, do you? But it's good to have his film here, as it shows another side of the Hong Kong film industry (look ma, it's not just Wong Kar Wai!).

Projected H-C Rating: an unknown bucket of arthouse out of 10

 
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Please check the AFI Events website for excellent synopses of each film.

 

 

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