Jamie Moir's Top Ten Hong Kong Movies
First off, this is really hard and I'm not quite happy with it. It's too
hard to only have a top 10 :) Secondly there are in no particular order OK.
TRICKY BRAINS (1991)
Stephen Chow, Andy Lau, Rosamund Kwan, Ng Man Tat, Chingmy Yau & Waise Lee
Amazing, borders entirely between hilarious and stupefying. If you can't handle this then
I'm afraid that humour in Hong Kong films may be entirely lost on you.
COMRADES, ALMOST A LOVE STORY (1996)
Leon Lai, Maggie Cheung, Christy Yeung, Eric Tsang & Christoper Doyle
My favourite of all the UFO films. I'll admit to being a sucker for some of the Hong Kong
weepies, but this is just beautiful. Great performances from all the cast; I originally
had some reservations about Leon Lai but he was just great & Maggie was just gorgeous
and really did very well - so much more than the lightweight Jackie's girlfriend roles I'm
so used to seeing her in. Eric Tsang was also pretty convincing, I was worried that he was
going to make me laugh all the way thru.
A CHINESE GHOST STORY (1987)
Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong & Wu Ma
Probably the film that really got me interested in the whole deal. I'd seen this on SBS
and I was thinking 'it's off to the asian section at my video store' next time I was in :)
Fab performances by the cast, cool music[*], amazing costumes and a really cool love
story.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED (1998)
Lau Ching Wan, Simon Yam, Ruby Wong, Yoyo Mung & Raymond Wong
First off, Milkyway rock. This is a hoot, when people try and tell me that Hong Kong films
are all about action/guns/karate, then this is one of the films I want to show them; not
that it's really short on violence but that it's so much more than some kind of cheesy
action film, it's pretty quirky and dark.
BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR (1993)
Brigitte Lin & Leslie Cheung
Fantastic story, excellent stars! This is just great to watch, a really moving story that
just looks great too.
WING CHUN (1993)
Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Ten & Waise Lee
A surprise, pretty goofy humour and some great screen time for my favourite Hong Kong
action star Michelle Yeoh. More of this bizarre genderbender stuff with Michelle as a
guyish-looking girl, some great gags with the three women and the unforgettably cool
beancurd fight scene.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA II (1992)
Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan & Donnie Yen
My fave of the series and a cool flick.
THE KILLER (1989)
Chow Yun Fat, Danny Lee and Sally Yeh
Not the most successful of the John Woo films but my favourite Chow Yun Fat role, with a
great performance by Danny Lee and Sally Yeh's music for the Soundtrack. Also now
available with yummy SBS subs and a decent translation whoooPEEE!
MR CANTON & LADY ROSE (1989)
Jackie Chan, Anita Mui & Wu Ma
It's a chuckle and my fave Jackie movie! Sorta hammy period stuff, with cool sets and
great action and humour.
CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994)
Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Faye Wong, Tony Leung
Hard choice but really I did dig Takeshi, Faye and Tony particularly. Brigitte was great
but just seemed a bit wasted buried behind the wig and the glasses :\
Anyway now that I've finally done that I'd like to say Mark Morrison is a
very cruel man. It's just too hard and too unfair on so many good films to do a top 10!
So now here are some others to throw in:
The Longest Nite: nasty dark film, Lau Ching Wan really is great
in this and wow that's an eye-opening Tony Leung performance.
Police Story III: my fave of that style of Jackie films and Michelle Yeoh steals
the show for me!
A Better Tomorrow 1&2: I was pretty upset that these didn't make my top 10,
Chow Yun Fat is great as usual and they also feature Ti Lung, who is also pretty fab.
UFO films: Mack the Knife/Anna Magdelena/He's a Woman, She's a Man.
Milkyway: these guys are too cool and my favourite production company in HK today: The
Longest Nite/Beyond Hypothermia/The Odd One Dies/Intruder/A Hero Never Dies/Where a Good
Man Goes/Running Out of Time.
Wong Kar Wai: fallen angels / ashes of time
Tsui Hark: The Once Upon a Time in Chinas, Peking Opera Blues, Green Snake, The
Lovers, Zu.
John Woo: ABT, the Killer, Hardboiled
Task Force: one of Mark's excellent recommendations
Young & Dangerous: great series with a couple of spin-offs, definitely worth
the rent
Sleepless Town: my fave Takeshi Kaneshiro film.
Moonlight Express: Leslie Cheung and a Japanese girl [sorry, forgot name] with a
cameo appearance by Michelle Yeoh.
The Stormriders/A Man Called Hero: both pretty cool, worth seeing for the live
manga action sort of bigger than real life style.
Too many others to list, too many films I haven't seen yet either =>
Enjoy!
* Cantopop is cool, well some of it is, you just have to get used to it,
(well that and perhaps pray that they don't translate it)
30 Jan 2000 © Jamie Moir
JAMIE MOIR is a Hong Kong film devotee, a Debian Linux user & a
Bill Gates despiser. Not really a sysadmin, he is just too lazy to go to work and finds
that he can do most of his work remotely and still get paid. Not to be confused with
anyone else from Perth, whilst he does ride a bike, he is not dreadlocked, just kinda
hairy. He holds Planet/SBS responsible for entering HK film fandom, and the films and Mark
for him staying that way. [Aww]
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