Andrea's Hong Kong Top 10 of the moment
1. SLEEPLESS TOWN
I think I could watch this movie every night for 2 weeks and still not be sick of
it. A Hong Kong/Japanese collaboration written and directed by Lee Chi-Ngai (who also did Lost
and Found, amongst others), it stars the dashing Takeshi Kaneshiro (Gum Sing-Mo) as
Kenichi, a fly-by-night character who ‘deals in anything but children’s
organs’. Intrigue, romance, betrayal, a plot that twists and turns like the
proverbial twisty-turny thing, a climax that will make the hairs on the back of your arms
stand on end, and Eric Tsang as a gangster in a bright yellow suit - Sleepless Town has
the lot, plus beautiful cinematography and a haunting soundtrack (which is available on
CD). See it.
2. BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR
Featuring all the kinds of stuff that made Hong Kong films famous in the west -
spectacular martial arts sequences, great costumes, sex, death and chicks that kick butt!
The story starts with Leslie Cheung freezing on a mountain top, waiting for a magic flower
to bloom. The reasons for his frosty vigil are revealed as the plot unfolds in flashback,
wending its way through the lives of Yi-hang (Cheung) and Ni-chang (Brigitte Lin Ching
Hsia) as they grow up, fall in love and untimately both come face-to-face with the spectre
of betrayal. The film stands out among the cult martial-arts genre mainly due to the fiery
performance of Lin, one of my all-time favourite Hong Kong actresses.
3. SUPERCOP - POLICE STORY 3
Quintessential Jackie Chan, featuring fantastic performances by Chan as Hong Kong
supercop Chen Chia-Chu, Michelle Yeoh (another of my favourite Hong Kong actresses) as
mainlander Inspector Yang, and Yueh Wah as bad guy Panther. The plot rips along at
breakneck speed, with plenty of stunts, action and good clean humor packed in along the
way. In one unforgettable stunt, Yeoh drives a motorbike up a hill onto a moving train!
Waaaah! And what’s more, you get to see the takes of the failed attempts at the end!
Eyes glued to the screen for all 96 minutes, or I’ll eat my bicycle helmet.
4. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Police drama with a difference. Well, several differences, really: it has
multi-dimensional characters, excellent cinematography, and the ending is, well,
unexpected. Lau Ching Wan, Simon Yam, Ruby Wong, Raymond Wong and Hui Siu-Hung star as
coppers who, in chasing the perpetrators of a botched jewellery-store holdup, stumble
across a much better-armed bunch of crims. A dark and at times disturbingly violent film
(though much of the violence is implied), Expect the Unexpected is rescued from
oppressive gloom by the substantial time spent exploring the complex and often humorous
relationships between the cops, and between two of the cops and witness Mandy (Yoyo Mung).
The VCD is marred by tiny subtitles (as is The Longest Nite, a great Cop/Killer
drama also directed by Patrick Yau), but the DVD transfer is very good, with nice big
subtitles, plus interviews with the stars and director, and some out-takes.
5. THE TAI-CHI MASTER
Two young novices, Jun Biao (Jet Li) and Tien Biao (Chin Sui-ho), are booted out of
Shaolin monastery. Tien Biao becomes a soldier for the evil eunuch Jin, whilst righteous
Jun Biao joins the rebel forces, led by Michelle Yeoh. Jun Biao battles memory loss
incurred during a fight with his old friend to ultimately invent a new and devastating Tai
Chi kung fu to wield against the forces of evil. The Tai-Chi Master has it all:
comedy, intrigue, a comprehensible plot (by no means guaranteed in martial arts films),
lashings of flying kung-fu action, and some great swirling-leaf special effects, with two
of my fav actors and THE best-ever few-against-many fight scene ever to make it onto
celluloid!
6. THE STORM RIDERS
Probably the closest thing yet to a real-life manga, The Storm Riders combines
magnificent digital and camera effects with great performances from Sonny Chiba, Ekin
Cheng, Aaron Kwok and Hsu Chi, and an epic fantasy plot. In short, it rocks.
7. TRICKY BRAINS
Arguably Stephen Chow Sing-Chi’s funniest ever film (Forbidden City Cop a
close second), and comprehensible even to people like myself with virtually no
comprehension of Cantonese. Tricky Brains follows the fortunes of Jung Koo
(Chow), who makes his living as a trickster. The fun really starts when he is hired by
jealous Macky (Waise Lee) to play tricks on Kit (Andy Lau) and his father (Ng-Man Tat),
and spoil Kit’s relationship with Lucy (Rosamund Kwan). Even though you realise that
some of the humour is probably lost in translation, and some of it is far from PC, by the
end of the movie, the crescendo of tricks, practical jokes and ‘makes-no-sense’
episodes will leave you slack-jawed (‘did I really just see that?’) and/or
rolling on the floor laughing.
8. YOUNG AND DANGEROUS III
I’ll admit it - although ‘triad recruitment’ movies are frowned
upon by some, I am totally hooked on this series (right down to the
testosterone-pumpin’ theme music!). Y&D follows the adventures of Chan
Ho Nam (Ekin Cheng) and his Causeway Bay branch of the Hung Hing triad society. Instalment
3 of the series offers similar fare to the rest of the series - murder, duplicity, revenge
and big mobs of hyped-up chopper-wielding guys casually jumping fences. However, No. III
is balanced with a touch of romance - Jordan Chan (‘Chicken’), newly returned
from Taiwan, hooks up with Karen Mok, the priest’s daughter who’s not half bad
at wielding a chopper herself. Spencer Lam is just great (again) as the priest. Ho
Nam’s girlfriend Smartie (Gigi Lai) wakes up from a coma, but has lost her memory.
They attempt to rekindle their romance as the film builds up to a tense and tragic climax.
9. A BETTER TOMORROW II
Another classic from John Woo, memorable particularly for the spectacular
buckets-of-blood and knee-deep-in-goons final showdown. Chow Yun-Fat, Ti Lung, Dean Shek
and Leslie Cheung all put in solid performances as they team up to bust Ko and his
counterfeiting gang. And boy, do these guys do some funky things with guns. If you are
into Hong Kong action, this one’s a must-see.
10. COMRADES, ALMOST A LOVE STORY
Normally, I wouldn’t watch romances, but this one sucked me right in. Li
Chiao (Maggie Cheung) and Li Xiao-Jun (Leon Lai) are mainlanders newly-arrived in Hong
Kong. Not wanting to give anything away, I’ll just say that the film follows their
fortunes in love and money over the next 10 years. Well-crafted, with superb performances
from Cheung and Lai, Comrades grabs your attention from the start, and holds it
firm it until the end credits start rolling. A love story, or almost one? Watch and find
out - even those who came to Hong Kong cinema via the action route will be pleasantly
surprised.
Highly Recommended:
The Longest Nite
Once Upon a Time In China (plus 2 & 3)
The Longest Summer
The Killer
A Chinese Ghost Story (plus 2 & 3)
Ashes of Time
Prince Charming
Rules of the Game
Dragon Inn
On the Run
A Man Called Hero
Running Out of Time
Peking Opera Blues
Wing Chun
Big Bullet
30 Jan 2000 © Andrea Gaynor
ANDREA GAYNOR is the
be-dreadlocked, bike-riding Perth co-correspondent for Heroic Cinema. In between writing a
PhD thesis, she teaches in the History Department at UWA and toys with the idea of
seriously learning Cantonese. She has contributed the Perth
Shopping Guide to Heroic Cinema.
Hates: having to mess around with her dreads to get her bike helmet on.
Likes: watching Hong Kong movies, of course!
Back to: Top Ten Index |
Previous list: Amanda Kool | Next list: Bill Routt
