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Asian cinema

Asian cinema
Views, news, and reviews of films from the continent's biggest movie production centres.
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Joe Wong poses for a portrait after his Joe Wong: The Twin Tariff Show in Hong Kong. Photo: Alexander Mak

Joe Wong, Ronny Chieng and the rise of Asian voices in comedy

Asian comedians were once forced to resort to stereotypes to find a platform – but a wave of pioneering stars is changing that.

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Rainy Chan has been executive director at Hong Kong Design Centre for almost a year. Photo: Alexander Mak

The Peninsula’s first female GM on burnout and the joy of reinvention

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Andrew Tuason in his Hong Kong studio during rehearsals for his upcoming tour in San Francisco. Photo: Jocelyn Tam

Andrew Tuason on his music career alongside Cantopop’s biggest stars

Reading Time:5 minutes
A picture of a young Teresa Teng in Bangkok from The Story of Teresa Teng by Billy. A former employee of the Chiang Mai hotel where she lived and died reveals what happened on the day she died in 1995. Photo: The Story of Teresa Teng by Billy

The day Teresa Teng died in Thailand – what the butler saw

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A poster of the global hit video game Black Myth: Wukong, inspired by the ancient Chinese tale Journey to the West. Photo: Xinhua

The next big gaming power? Chinese titles packed halls at Europe’s biggest fair

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Waterbomb’s winning formula of water cannons and K-pop makes its return to Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

What to do in Hong Kong, September 28 – October 4

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Content from SCMP's Specialist Publications
Tang Wei (left) and Tony Leung Chiu-wai in a still from Lust, Caution. Photo: Edko Films
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Lust, Caution made waves for its sex scenes but overdid the caution

Although beautifully staged, this Hong Kong-US-China production starring Tony Leung and Tang Wei had a muddled story and misguided messages.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Hong Kong’s Category III adult film industry laid bare in 2 films

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Profile | Adult film legend Amy Yip bares all about her soft porn career

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How the Erotic Ghost Story films shocked and seduced Hong Kong

The trio of 1990s adult movies with Hong Kong sex symbols like Amy Yip and Japanese adult-video actresses like Kudo Hitomi were a huge hit.

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(From left) Amy Yip, Man Siu and Kudo Hitomi in a still from Erotic Ghost Story.
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

The Hong Kong films released in 2024, ranked from worst to best

From We 12 to Papa, Fly Me to the Moon and The Last Dance, our ranking of the Hong Kong films that hit cinemas in the course of the year.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Chingmy Yau shocked Hong Kong and became one of its biggest sex symbols

Chingmy Yau’s transition from respectable actress to star of Category III adult films full of sex and violence like ‘Naked Killer’ was quite the revelation in Hong Kong in the 1990s.

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Asian cinema: Korean films

‘I’m second,’ says South Korean star Hyun Bin on life now he’s a dad

Hyun Bin says his son and his wife, Crash Landing on You co-star Son Ye-jin, are his priorities, and reveals the pressures of making Harbin.

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Korean actor Hyun Bin with his wife Son Ye-jin. The couple married in March 2022 and had their son in November the same year. Photo: Instagram/hyunbinactor
The Philippines

‘Bombas’: the Philippine sex films whose stars were household names

Cheaply made and with female characters who were either predators or victims, bombas thrived despite Catholic Church opposition; they also often represented the hardships of everyday life for Filipinos under the Marcos dictatorship.

Asian cinema: Korean films

5 career-defining roles for Hyun Bin – yes, one of them is Secret Garden

From Hyun Bin’s breakthrough in the 2005 drama My Lovely Sam Soon to huge hit Secret Garden to Netflix series Crash Landing on You, five of the Korean actor’s career-defining roles as he turns 41.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Is Simon Yam Hong Kong cinema’s hardest working actor?

Adults-only and mainstream crime films, sex films, and serious dramas with Alex Law and Ann Hui – Simon Yam has done them all. Good-looking and with an expressive face, he has a work ethic second to none.

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Simon Yam at the 2017 Hong Kong Film Awards presentation ceremony. Photo: Edward Wong
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Under Current: Aaron Kwok, Francis Ng seek justice in fun but silly thriller

This Hong Kong tale of greed and corruption is a watchable portrait of greed and corruption, but it is also thoroughly detached from reality.

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Aaron Kwok in a still from Under Current (category IIB, Cantonese), directed by Alan Mak. Francis Ng and Alex Fong co-star.
What to do in Hong Kong

5 things to do in Hong Kong and ways to help this weekend, December 5-7

Whether heading to a bar that gives proceeds to Tai Po fire victims or donating essentials, there are various ways you can help this weekend.

Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | Cantopop icon Alan Tam: from Leslie Cheung’s rival to fans smashing albums

‘Principal Tam’ ruled Cantopop in the late 1970s and ’80s but later vexed fans with his offstage actions. Still, he’s going strong today.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong abruptly cancels 3 Japanese film screenings amid diplomatic row

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has dropped Kamome Diner, Tampopo and An from its upcoming film programme.

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A still from Tampopo (1985). The film is among three Japanese films that have had their screenings in the Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s “Food for Thought - A Cinematic Feast” programme cancelled amid a diplomatic spat between Beijing and Tokyo. Photo: SCMP
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Road to Vendetta: Jeffrey Ngai plays an assassin in his first lead role

A John Wick-inspired action thriller co-produced by Hong Kong and Japan, Road to Vendetta is a textbook case of style over substance.

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Jeffrey Ngai in a still from Road to Vendetta (category IIB; Cantonese, Japanese, English, Mandarin), directed by Njo Kui-ying. Sara Minami co-stars.
Asian cinema: Chinese films

Want to find solace in film? 10 movies that may offer catharsis and hope

Following last week’s tragic fire at a Tai Po estate in Hong Kong, we look at films in which humanity endures through the darkest of hours.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Johnnie To redefined Hong Kong’s gangster genre with 3 mid-2000s classics

Exiled, Mad Detective and Sparrow show the director at his eclectic best, mixing violence, humour and chaos.

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European cinema

British film about Hong Kong immigrants showed grim reality of their new lives

Soursweet (1988), about a Hong Kong family’s UK struggles, was a progressive film, despite the narrative controlled by its British makers.

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Sylvia Chang in a still from Soursweet (1988). Film4’s drama about a Hong Kong family trying to make a new life in London was written by Ian McEwan and directed by Mike Newell, and had almost no Chinese people behind the camera.
Books and literature

Ghosts, gamblers and green velvet: the strange magic of Lawrence Osborne’s world

The novelist behind Colin Farrell’s new Macau-set film noir, The Ballad of a Small Player, reveals how his art imitates his life.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Someone Like Me: Fish Liew shines as a disabled woman seeking sex

This daring Hong Kong-set drama follows a woman with cerebral palsy who wishes to experience sex before having a hysterectomy.

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US-China relations

Ne Zha-Transformers collaboration set to air as US-China frictions ease

Long-awaited shared animated universe of ‘My Ne Zha and Transformers’ seen as fresh symbol of cooperation between the nations.

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My Ne Zha and Transformers, due to debut on CCTV’s Children’s Channel on December 6, will see the popular boy deity join forces with the Autobots in a rare fusion of an American commercial franchise and Chinese folklore. Photo: Handout
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Bruce Lee hit the big time and other Hong Kong cinema highlights from 1972

Amid Bruce Lee’s rise to stardom, we look at what else made Hong Kong film headlines in 1972, from a Lee challenger to a local ‘Bond Girl’.

Bruce Lee in a still from Fist of Fury. The 1972 movie cemented the martial arts actor’s superstar status in the Hong Kong cinema industry. Photo: Criterion Collection
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Golden Boy: Louis Cheung anchors hot-blooded yet generic boxing drama

Cheung’s eye-catching central performance is the highlight of Joe Chan’s mildly entertaining drama co-starring Leander Lau and Eric Tsang.

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China-Japan relations

Japanese concerts cancelled in China as diplomatic row takes cultural toll

Fans of Kokia and JO1 left disappointed as diplomatic dust-up over Sanae Takaichi’s comments ripples out into the economy.

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Asian cinema: Chinese films

Why it took Sean Baker’s producer 20 years to make her debut Left-Handed Girl

Tsou Shih-ching’s directorial debut, a heartfelt Taiwanese drama, was born from a moment of childhood guilt when her grandfather scolded her.

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Nina Ye (front) and Ma Shih-yuan in a still from Left-Handed Girl.
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

3 Hong Kong romance films that pushed the boundaries

Sci-fi story Saviour of the Soul, fantasy tale Anna Magdalena and the provocative Isabella went outside the norm for Hong Kong romances.

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Takeshi Kaneshiro (left) and Kelly Chen in a still from quirky Hong Kong romance Anna Magdalena (1998), directed by Yee Chung-man.
K-drama news

Profile | Who is Ahn Eun-jin, the late-blooming star of K-drama Dynamite Kiss?

Korean actress Ahn Eun-jin made the big time in Hospital Playlist and with her role in romantic drama My Dearest. We look back at her career.

Art

Angelica Lee Sinje evokes ‘childlike wonder’ in first Hong Kong art show

In Childtopia, Lee’s first solo exhibition in the city, the actress-singer’s round paintings pay homage to Cantonese desserts and innocence.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Against All Odds: Hong Kong-set WWII thriller punches above its weight

A downed US pilot’s rescue entwines with a plot to assassinate a Japanese official in a gripping, intimate WWII thriller set in Hong Kong.

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Louise Wong in a still from Against All Odds.
Louise Wong in a still from Against All Odds.
Asian cinema: Japanese films

Review | Kokuho: kabuki epic with Ryo Yoshizawa is the best Japanese film of the year

Kokuho is a lavish, bewitching story of two Japanese kabuki theatre actors, raised in the same family and competing to become the best.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Hong Kong’s 1985 horror film The Island was a rare gorefest

This brutal horror story about a field trip to a remote island inhabited by three crazed brothers was a rare outlier for Hong Kong cinema.

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Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | How actor Anthony Wong survived terrible films, ‘shut out’ by mainland China

From humble beginnings, Anthony Wong overcame adversity to become one of Hong Kong’s top actors and a man unafraid to speak out.

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Actor Anthony Wong stays active in local theatre and collaborates with filmmakers. Photo: Felix Wong
Asian cinema: Japanese films

Can’t get enough of Another World? 10 animated films set in the afterlife

If you liked Another World, you will love these 10 afterlife animations, with subjects from rabbits and dogs to a pianist and a corpse bride.

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A screen grab from Soul, starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey, one of 10 animated films focusing on the afterlife. Photo: Disney/Pixar
A screen grab from Soul, starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey, one of 10 animated films focusing on the afterlife. Photo: Disney/Pixar
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Chan Koon-tai, Bruce Lee’s counterpart, wowed with his kung fu skills

Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers Studio made Chan their answer to Lee in the 1970s. Here are 2 films that put his martial arts prowess to good use.

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American cinema

The story of A Great Wall – the first American film shot in China

Peter Wang’s 1986 comedy-drama A Great Wall, which was filmed in San Francisco and Beijing, was better received in the US than in China.

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Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | 96 Minutes: train bomb thriller forgoes excitement for life lessons

This overcomplicated tale of a bomb on a train overflows with guilt, life lessons and earnest emotions without much of a conclusion.

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Austin Lin (front) and Lee Lee-zen in a still from Taiwanese thriller 96 Minutes (category IIB, Mandarin), directed by Hung Tzu-hsuan. Vivian Sung and Jacob Wang co-star.