Tim Youngs' Top Ten Hong Kong Movies
Since the placings within my top ten keep on changing, here's my all-time
favourites alphabetically:
COME DRINK WITH ME (King Hu; 1966)
The gorgeous Cheng Pei-pei plays Golden Swallow; a young swordswoman out to dice the evil
Jade-Faced Tiger and his men in a dashing rescue bid. Fights galore, expert pace,
captivating characters and a spirited script (subtitled to perfection) make it a must-see.
At least it will be once producers Shaw Brothers let the film appear all singing and
dancing on video one day.
COMRADES: ALMOST A LOVE STORY (Peter Chan Ho-san; 1997)
Designed to get those tears out and flowing as it follows two mainlanders brought to HK in
search of success. Twists of fate follow the two leads (Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai
eschewing superstar personas) to a moving finale in New York. Manipulative, simple and
unpretentious. The other Hong Kong weepies that have come since - from City of Glass
to Fly Me To Polaris - just don't come close to this drama.
COPS AND ROBBERS (Alex Cheung; 1979)
Without any doubt, the bad guy in Cops and Robbers is the nastiest villain I've
ever seen on screen. Cross-eyed, gun loving, and with a liking for shiny metal shears,
he's every bit the perfect nutter. Rejected by the police recruiters, he turns to crime.
And when his gang buddies are shot by the law, he goes out of his way for revenge. The
plot offers intense and memorable filming ready to bond itself to you mind for days
afterward. And best of all, it all plays terrific as a knockout double with director Alex
Cheung's harsh 1981 follow-up flick Man On The Brink.
DRAGON INN (Raymond Lee; 1992)
Admittedly, King Hu's 1967 Dragon Inn thrashes this 1992 remake on the acting and
action stakes. And the intro to the new version is impossible to follow. But director
Raymond Lee makes amends with bristling enthusiasm, villainous eunuchs, an overload of
flying duels and a cannibal chef in the inn's basement. Briggitte Lin leaping over the
clifftops, springing to and fro with her sword in battle, makes for my favourite action
scene outside anything in Operation Scorpio. Fullest brownie points go to Chinatown
Video for getting this ripper into Aussie video shops so early in the piece.
FIRST LOVE: THE LITTER ON THE BREEZE (Eric Kot Man-fai;
1997)
It's so easy to dislike this film - the interrupting vision of director Eric Kot as a
wigged artypants director rambling nasal in pretentious stupour can be somewhat
off-putting. But bear with the movie. I did. And on finishing it I promptly watched it
right through again. It's a film about a director's filmmaking process, spanning an
initial idea - played out by Takeshi Kaneshiro and Lee Wai-wai - through to a most
delightful second screen story starring Kot, Karen Mok and the under-used Lan Sai. For an
extra blast of Eric Kot afterward, try the Blowing in the Wind segment of Sandra Ng's Four
Faces of Eve as a rousing supplement.
HAPPY TOGETHER (Wong Kar-wai; 1997)
Wong Kar-wai's Days of Being Wild comes up trumps on atmosphere and revisionist
sensibilities but it's Happy Together that I find is the director's most satisfying
film to watch. Two Hong Kong men (Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Leslie Cheung) wind up in
Argentina in a failing relationship and with falling fortunes. Though the two remain at
odds with each other throughout, the intimate filming - in sets ranging from a tango bar
to a car to a dingy Buenos Aires apartment - is constantly absorbing. The best
performances I've seen from the leads and what's more the best film about relationships,
period.
HOUSE OF THE LUTE (Lau Shing-hon; 1979)
Another relationships movie, only this one's far more sleazy and supernatural. A very
young Simon Yam fronts up at a mansion in the new territories to start work as a houseboy.
The elderly master of the house is paralysed from the waist down and his lithe young wife
is undersexed. Guess what happens. This adult eye-popper is placed far above run-of-the
mill Hong Kong sleaze by indie director Lau Shing-hon's careful pacing, some
social/political edgings, the dark horror finale and a unique soundtrack - the staccato
sounds of a Ming Dynasty lute run parallel to the dialogue.
THE PRIVATE EYES (Michael Hui; 1976)
With a plot based loosely around a private detective firm and its new recruit, The
Private Eyes falls about in description-defying situational slapstick. And it's not
just straight comedy either - the gorgeous SBS TV subtitles brought out the satire and
social commentary in Sam Hui's gushing songs which carry the film all the more.
TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NUMBER ONE (Wai Ka-fai; 1997)
An unleashed depiction of choice and fate, following Lau Ching-wan from a single point in
time into separate climaxes. Two stories are on hand; both are gripping and beatifully
cast, and both are extraordinary to watch. The camera style goes completely over the top
to bring a gaping fisheyed, and even upended, view of the ensuing triad shenanigans. It's
stunning to watch on video though I'm sure it would have brought on a headache at a
theatre.
THE WINDOW (Lung Kong; 1968) Even more melodrama above
the slush among the nine titles above. Josephine Siao and Patrick Tse star in this little
delight. Tse plays a petty thief who brings about an old man's death during a mugging.
Soon Tse winds up in the company of the man's blind daughter, played by Josephine Siao.
He's wracked with guilt and takes it as his duty to care for the grieving girl until the
cops lock him away. Wildly melodramatic and bouyed with subthemes of untamed youth and 60s
society troubles, The Window is a captivating snippet of old Hong Kong. I'm
patiently waiting to see the director's other works - if they're as delightful as The
Window, I'm sure to be happy.
30 Jan 2000 © Tim Youngs
About TIM YOUNGS
Half Australian, half British, Tim was brought up in the Sunshine State until 1980, when
he moved to Hong Kong where he lives to this day. Now the editor of a local architecture
magazine, Tim writes on Hong Kong movies for his website Another Hong Kong Movies Page
and anywhere else that will let him.
