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Chinese language cinema

Chinese language cinema
From Andy Lau to John Woo, from Jiang Wen to Tsai Ming-liang to Sylvia Chang, and from triads to kung fu to hopping vampires to costume epics, this is the place to go for features, interviews and reviews about Chinese-language movies from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China.
Fosun International chairman Guo Guangchang speaks Monday at the groundbreaking ceremony of a HK$10 billion residential project at the site of the Shaw Brothers studio in Clear Water Bay. Photo: Fosun
Hong Kong

Will Fosun’s luxury project revive Hong Kong’s Movietown magic?

Fosun Group begins HK$10 billion transformation of legendary studio, signalling confidence in Hong Kong’s property recovery.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Running on Karma with Andy Lau hid a Buddhist tragedy behind muscles

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Cinema

From the Vault: culturally significant films

Chinese culture

Opinion | For many outside China, Dear You reflects family history, not politics

Some call the film soft power, but for many in the Chinese diaspora, it’s simply family history.

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A woman attends a screening of Dear You in Kuala Lumpur on June 15. Photo: Xinhua
TV shows and streaming video

Who is Zhang Linghe, the Pursuit of Jade star and Gucci ambassador?

A recent public appearance sparked riots while his Netflix drama trends around the world – but why did this superstar almost choose a career in STEM?

Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | Cantopop star, scandal, redemption: Andy Hui’s turbulent 40-year career

Hui had a dream career and marriage to Sammi Cheng, then a 2019 cheating scandal threatened it all. Seven years on, he has turned things around.

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Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | Dear You: nostalgic Teochew family drama is a surprise box office hit in China

Lan Hongchun’s film on love, loyalty and immigrant struggles is a sensation in China, with lead Li Sitong giving a career-making performance.

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Li Sitong as the young Nanzhi in a still from Dear You (category IIA, Teochew), directed by Lan Hongchun. Wang Yantong and Wu Shaoqing co-star.
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Palimpsest: The Story of a Name – Mary Stephen’s riveting study of identity

Hong Kong-born director Mary Stephen’s documentary explores her obscure heritage against a background of colonialism and self-reinvention.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Dog Day Evening: Kafkaesque comedy reflects on a Hong Kong hostage incident

Inspired by a true story, Dog Day Evening explores the often infuriating world of customer hotlines and service cancellations.

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Singapore

Lost in translation? Singapore wants Dear You film mostly in Mandarin, not Teochew

Linguists and the local Teochew community say watching the hit Chinese film in its original form can help sustain cultural diversity.

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A still from “Dear You”, the hit Chinese film shot in southern Teochew dialect. Photo: Handout
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Pang Ho-cheung’s early black comedies disrupted Hong Kong cinema

The writer-director’s You Shoot, I Shoot (2001) and Men Suddenly in Black (2003) injected a dose of dark satire into a waning local industry.

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Eric Kot (left) and Cheung Tat-ming in a still from You Shoot, I Shoot, Pang Ho-cheung’s 2001 directorial debut.
American cinema

When RZA cut his teeth as a kung fu director in The Man with the Iron Fists

The Wu-Tang Clan leader’s directorial debut with Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu was an ambitious ode to the martial arts films he grew up loving.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Beyond Hostage Crisis: Manila tragedy spawns misguided faith-based movie

This dramatisation of the 2010 Manila hostage crisis, in which eight Hongkongers died, fails to explore the tragedy in any depth.

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Law

Legal Tales | ‘We’re Nothing At All’: why Hongkongers must avoid collective apathy

Charity screening of Herman Yau’s latest film sparks reflection on marginalisation, justice and social responsibility in Hong Kong.

A still from the film “We’re Nothing At All” directed by Herman Yau. Photo: Golden Scene
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | The Furious: an instant classic if you like gory, bone-crunching violence

Generic, unfunny and emotionally hollow, The Furious will nevertheless delight those who simply want to watch people getting slaughtered.

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(From left) Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian and Xie Miao in a still from The Furious (category III, Mandarin, English, Thai), directed by Kenji Tanigaki. Yang Enyou co-stars.
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How the Young and Dangerous films of the 1990s made triad gangsters sexy

As Young and Dangerous turns 30, we look back at the six-film series that marked a shift in how gangsters were portrayed.

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Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | How Hong Kong wuxia ‘princess’ Michelle Yim has kept shining for 55 years

After her wuxia TV roles wowed viewers across Asia in the 1970s, Yim moved to movies and plays. Now 70, she will hold her first solo concert.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Sharla Cheung excelled next to Stephen Chow in 1990s Hong Kong cinema

Sharla Cheung Man’s cool glamour and movie-star looks were a feature of 1990s Hong Kong cinema. Here are some of her best films.

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Sharla Cheung Man in a still from the Ming dynasty wuxia drama Swordsman (1990). Photo: Fortune Star Media
China’s Communist Party

Actress Lin Chi-ling quits Taiwan culture board amid backlash

Lin withdrew from the board of the Taiwan Creative Content Agency after backlash from the island’s arts community and Beijing.

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Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | Unexpected Courage: Rene Liu’s mid-40s career woman risks life over pregnancy

Rene Liu stars as a woman whose successful career is put on hold when she continues a risky pregnancy in this poorly conceived drama.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

The best car stunts in Hong Kong cinema: Police Story, Initial D and more

The most famous car stunt in Hong Kong movie history, and one that made its stuntman instantly famous, feature on our list of the best.

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Shawn Yue in a still from Motorway (2012), a cops-and-robbers revenge tale that puts car handling at its centre and one of the titles on our list of the films featuring Hong Kong’s best car stunts.
China society

Opinion | A Teochew hit film shows what’s ailing Chinese entertainment

A new box-office surprise is a warning to the industry that visually stunning fare featuring ‘traffic stars’ is not good enough.

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People walk past movie posters at a cinema in Mengzi city, Yunnan province on February 19. Photo: Xinhua
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Why Alex Law and Mabel Cheung’s nostalgic films are among their finest

Two of the most poignant movies by life partners Law and Cheung explore migration and memory, and star the likes of Sammo Hung and Simon Yam.

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Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | A Man and a Woman: Hong Kong-set quarantine drama is a tough watch

Neighbouring hotel guests develop a relationship over the course of their 21-day quarantine in Hong Kong in Guan Hu’s pandemic-set drama.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Lau Ching-wan’s best mid-1990s films, from Loving You to Big Bullet

Several of Lau’s mid-1990s roles strongly hinted at the greatness to come for the four-time best actor winner.

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Hong Kong actor Lau Ching-wan attends an interview with the South China Morning Post in 1996. We look at three of his best films from the mid-1990s. Photo: SCMP
Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Profile | ‘I don’t want to be a diva or a billionaire’: Kay Tse’s 20-year Cantopop legacy

Cantopop singer Kay Tse’s two-decade career has been built on authenticity, a commitment to social issues and her love of Hong Kong.

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Kay Tse at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards in April 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Why Angela Mao, aka ‘the new Bruce Lee’, was a better fighter than Michelle Yeoh

Angela Mao, star of hits like Hapkido and Lady Whirlwind, was billed as the ‘new Bruce Lee’ by Golden Harvest after his death.

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China’s soft power

Why are modern Chinese audiences shying away from dubbed films?

Greater subtitle literacy among streaming viewers is among factors chipping away at enthusiasm for dubbed movies in China.

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