THE WALTER READE THEATER

Recent Films from Hong Kong

Sponsored by The Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office New York

Oct 18 - 28, 2004

left: July Rhapsody

After the worldwide critical and commercial success of Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s, production began to slow down in the 1990s, with key artists moving to Hollywood and elsewhere and several important companies closing down. Yet by 2000, Hong Kong cinema seemed to be reborn; new audiences both in Hong Kong and abroad were discovering a new generation of directors and stars, and the old formulas, so heavily based on gunplay and choreographed violence, gave way to approaches that offered more psychologically based plotlines. This series of recent films will celebrate the re-emergence of Hong Kong cinema as a major international player, and hopefully point out new directions for that cinema in the years to come.

As part of this survey of recent Hong Kong cinema, we're pleased to present a brief focus on the great Johnnie To, surely one of the most remarkable talents working anywhere today. A first-rate craftsman whose films keep moving in new and unpredictable directions, Johnnie To is the only director in the world to have had different works featured this year at Berlin (RUNNING ON KARMA), Cannes (BREAKING NEWS) and Venice (THROW DOWN) - all of which he completed after PTU, shown in last year's New York Film Festival! We hope to have Mr. To on hand to present and discuss his work.

BREAKING NEWS / DAI SI GEIN
Johnnie To, Hong Kong, 2004; 90m
When the embarrassing defeat of a police battalion is broadcast live on TV, the credibility of the police department drops to an all-time low. But when the whereabouts of the robbers is discovered, Police Inspector Rebecca comes up with a strategy to reverse her department's bad publicity by sending policemen into the building outfitted with wireless cameras so the public can see real justice being served. But the robbers aren't to be so easily outdone.... Quick-paced and ever surprising, BREAKING NEWS is vintage Johnnie To. At the film's premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the audience burst into hoots, hollers and applause at the end of one of the most remarkable shots in recent memory, a tour-de-force gun battle with a constantly moving camera that lasts over seven minutes.
Mon Oct 18: 2:15 & 6:30; Sat Oct 23: 5:45 & 9:45

INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2 / WU JIAN DAO II
Andrew Lau & Alan Mak, Hong Kong, 2003; 119m
There are few sequels - or in this case, prequels - that can really stand comparison to their highly successful originals, but IA2 is one of that rare breed, a film that deepens the themes and evolves the visual style that made the first Infernal Affairs such a hit with audiences and critics alike. The story begins in the early 90s: The assassination of triad kingpin Kwun threatens to unleash a bloody power struggle. Up-and-coming crime boss Sam (Eric Tsang) is cautiously planning his next move, when suddenly everyone is surprised by the sudden takeover of the triads by Hau, Kwun's supposedly mild-mannered accountant son, who reveals an astonishing ruthlessness. Meanwhile, Police Inspector Wong (the great Anthony Wong) plants Yan, a recruit fresh from the academy, in Hau's organization; Sam, suspicious of Inspector Wong, plants his own mole, Ming, inside Wong's unit. As Hong Kong heads toward the 1997 handover to China, each player in this hidden drama of power, corruption and loyalty will gradually reveal his hand, trying to make his opponents "blink." Voted "Best Film of 2003" by the Hong Kong Critics Association, IA2 features newcomers Edison Chen and Shawn Yue in the Ming and Yan roles created by Andy Lau and Tony Leung in the first IA.
Mon Oct 18: 4:15 & 8:30

RUNNING ON KARMA / DA ZHI LAO
Johnnie To & Wai Ka Fai, Hong Kong, 2003; 93m
Decked out in a bodysuit, Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau plays "Biggie," a male exotic dancer whose act sometimes goes too far. One time when it does, a policewoman, Yee, is in the audience, and she arrests him; Biggie flees the scene of the crime, inadvertently allowing a murderer to go free. After clearing Biggie of the charges against him, Yee decides to find out more about this exotic dancer. The mystery of Biggie grows deeper still when he reveals an uncanny ability to read people's karma. A change of pace for Johnnie To, here sharing the direction with screenwriter Wai Ka Fai, RUNNING ON KARMA is more introspective than To's other recent films. After the flash opening in the strip club, it transforms into a portrait of two people trying to come to terms with forces they know they can't control.
Tue Oct 19: 2 & 6:15

INFERNAL AFFAIRS 3 / WU JIAN DAO III
Andrew Lau & Alan Mak, Hong Kong, 2004; 117m
If IA was the present and IA2 was the past, IA3 is a kind of astonishing combination of the two, with interweaving narratives that move the story back and forth in time while it heads to its thrilling conclusion. Police detective Ming (Andy Lau), who's actually a mole for the triads, is once again in good standing after a few questionable killings. All seems fine, except for the emergence of the energetic Security Inspector Yeung (Leon Lai), who Ming suspects might be another triad mole sent to finish him off. Meanwhile, in a separate storyline, Yan (Tony Leung) is now crime boss Sam's right hand, although he's actually a police mole. Fearing that he's out of control, his police handler, Inspector Wong, sends him to psychological counseling, during which all kinds of secrets begin to emerge. A brilliant ending to the series that both sums up and comments on the permeability of good and evil that has figured so prominently in all three films.
Tue Oct 19: 4 & 8:10

A CHINESE ODYSSEY / TIANXIA WUSHUANG
Jeff Lau, Hong Kong, 2002; 98m
In Ming dynasty China, two pairs of siblings are destined for each other. But fate throws countless obstacles in the path of their happiness. One pair is high-born: the young emperor and his sister, Wushuang. The other pair is decidedly lowborn: the wanderer Li Yilong and his sister, Phoenix. When both the young emperor and his sister contrive to leave the Palace and head south, they meet the loves of their lives in Meilong. But Wushuang has disguised herself as a man, and the emperor is incognito. Numerous confusions, complications and misunderstandings ensue: genders and gender roles are reversed, class differences prove hard to negotiate, and identities and egos block the promptings of desire. Produced by Wong Kar-wai, A CHINESE ODYSSEY is a delightful send-up of standard cinematic renderings of classic Chinese tales.
Wed Oct 20: 2 & 6:15; Thurs Oct 21: 3

TIME AND TIDE / SEUNLAU NGAKLAU
Tsui Hark, Hong Kong, 2000; 113m
"Strap yourselves in for one hell of a bullet-propelled chase through the streets of Hong Kong under the surefire marksmanship of Tsui Hark, Asia's master of hyperactive cinema - widely imitated, never successfully duplicated. When a drunken one-night stand results in unplanned fatherhood, Tyler, a streetwise kid, finds himself working for a loan shark's bodyguard service. His plan of escaping Hong Kong and living the good life in a remote South American paradise becomes an unobtainable dream when he meets Jack, a disillusioned mercenary from Brazil starting a new life in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, in a not-so-postcard-perfect South American town, a reckless young bandit in the middle of a bloody gold heist plans to find his former partner who has escaped to the good life…in Hong Kong. Get ready to chant the mantra of cinematic excitement with the high priest of action, Tsui Hark." - Colin Geddes, 2000 Toronto International Film Festival
Wed Oct 20: 4 & 8:15; Thurs Oct 21: 9:15

THE EYE
Danny & Oxide Pang, Hong Kong/Thailand, 2002; 99m
Twin brothers from Thailand who worked their way up through the Hong Kong industry, the Pang brothers scored a great international success with THE EYE. Mun, a blind violinist, undergoes a cornea transplant; the operation's a success, and soon she's beginning to see shapes, objects and colors. But that's not all that she can see; shadowy, hardly distinct figures circulate all around her, seemingly unnoticed by those around her. As her sight improves and these become more and more real to her, Mun decides to track down her cornea's donor, to discover who this person is and why he or she had access to this unknown realm. An extraordinary sense of dread hangs over THE EYE, as each moment seems to promise yet another even more frightening revelation.
Thurs Oct 21: 1; Fri Oct 22: 9:15

DARKNESS BRIDE / YOU GOU
William Kwok, Hong Kong/Taiwan, 2003; 104m
DARKNESS BRIDE is an eerie tale that begins in a remote village in northern China. Here, local custom holds that the corpses of dead virgins can be exhumed and sold to unmarried men, so that they might have spouses in the afterlife. A young woman, Qing Hua, lives with her shepherd husband while carrying on with their friend, Chun Sheng; when their affair might be revealed, they dig up the body of a famous local virgin, sell it and head to the city, but that's when their problems really begin. A bar hostess starts to come between them, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to that famous dead virgin.... Fri Oct 22: 2; Sun Oct 24: 4; Mon Oct 25: 1

GOLDEN CHICKEN / GAM GAI
Samson Chiu, Hong Kong, 2002; 106m
Graced with a riotous performance by the delightful Sandra Ng, GOLDEN CHICKEN is a hilariously revealing if occasionally raunchy guide to Hong Kong from the point of view of an especially hardworking working girl - a "golden chicken." One night while trying to make a withdrawal from an ATM, Kum finds herself in the middle of an inept robbery carried out by Bong. Trapped inside with Bong after the robbery is discovered, Kum starts to recount to him her life story, detailing her outrageous sexual journeys and odd encounters with all strata of Hong Kong society. Director Samson Chiu keeps the pace brisk, carefully upping the ante as each successive escapade described by Kum grows just a little bit wilder. With cameo appearances by many of Hong Kong cinema's top stars.
Fri Oct 22: 4; Sat Oct 23: 1:30; Mon Oct 25: 3

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE / FA YEUNG NIN WA
Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 2000; 98m
Set in Hong Kong in 1962, Wong Kar-wai's great international hit is a romantic idyll from which all the sex and confessions have been excised, leaving gestures and shards of feeling in their place. Nominally about two married people who discover that their spouses are having an affair with each other, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is instead more about aquarium green and gold-vermilion, the moist tenderness at play in Tony Leung's eyes and the way in which Maggie Cheung's fingers brush against a doorjamb. As always, love is ephemeral, the mood indigo. More quiet and still than much of the director's recent work, the film is achingly, shockingly beautiful - somehow, and somehow rightly, it ends at Angkor Wat, the great Hindu temple in whose shadow this idyll about love and time lost comes to a whispery, mysterious close.
Sat Oct 23: 3:40 & 7:40

LAN YU
Stanley Kwan, Hong Kong, 2001; 86m
Set in Beijing right before the events that led to the tragedy of Tiananmen Square, LAN YU looks at the world of Chen Handong, a successful businessman with a secret but active gay life. One night he sees a striking young man in a bar; he is Lan Yu, a student from the countryside who's been hired for the bar's gay owner. Instead, Lan Yu goes home with Handong; their tryst soon transforms into a passionate love, and Handong starts to plan his life around being with Lan Yu. "To call LAN YU a 'gay film' - its two protagonists are decidedly homosexual and are onscreen throughout the entire film - would be sadly limiting. Its ultimate themes are at once universal and local and have little to do with what men do in bed. This is a film about the fragility and ultimate necessity of love, even under the shadow of great events." - Noah Cowan, 2001 Toronto International Film Festival Catalog Sun Oct 24: 2; Tue Oct 26: 1 & 7:10

THROW DOWN / YAU DOH LUNG FU BONG
Johnnie To, Hong Kong, 2004; 95m
Recently presented in Venice, THROW DOWN is a kind of homage to Akira Kurosawa's judo epic Sanshiro Sugata. The film opens with young buck Tony arriving at a nightclub to challenge the owner, Sze-to, to a fight. Sze-to was once a judo champion of some renown, but for reasons unknown has since given up the sport. Now he spends his nights liquored up and his days stealing from a deranged gangster in an effort to keep his club doors open. Sze-to has neither the time nor the inclination to give Tony the fight the younger man wants. Perhaps never before has Johnnie To explored a relationship between two men with greater depth, as the power dynamics between them keep shifting and being redefined. THROW DOWN also features the same velvety, nocturnal cinematography that so distinguished To's PTU.
Sun Oct 24: 9; Thurs Oct 28: 2 & 9

PTU
Johnnie To, Hong Kong, 2003; 86m
"One of the few personal filmmakers still at work in the commercial Hong Kong cinema, Johnnie To specializes in street-level cop films, shot with a no-nonsense authority that recalls the work of Don Siegel and Phil Karlson. PTU - the initials stand for "police tactical unit" - is To's variation on a classic film noir theme, the corrupt cop who finds he must finally take a stand. Played by the marvelous character actor Lam Suet, Lo is a tubby, chain-smoking sergeant who loses his gun in a fight with a street gang and goes to extraordinary lengths to get it back. To's natural environment is Hong Kong at night - a city of eerily deserted streets, glowing neon signs, echoing pools of darkness and a constant sense of unseen menace. To populates his world with a range of marvelously drawn types, from sadistic petty hoods to imposing senior officers - such as the upright captain played by Hong Kong favorite Simon Yam. - Dave Kehr, 41st New York Film Festival Tue Oct 26: 3 & 9; Wed Oct 27: 1

JULY RHAPSODY / LAAM YAN SEI SAP
Ann Hui, Hong Kong, 2002; 103m
Lam Yiu-kwok is a high school teacher, an introverted, bookish man approaching middle age. But everything changes when a student, Choi-nam, falls in love with him. The beautiful teen reminds him of his wife when she was young. Meanwhile, back at home, his wife, Man-ching (Anita Mui), receives a visit from her old teacher, Mr. Seng, who's now terminally ill. Seng's unexpected appearance makes Man-ching realize that she still has unresolved feelings for him. One of Hong Kong's most versatile actors, Jacky Cheung, creates a rich, complex portrait of a man desperately trying to understand his own emotions. As his wife, Mui is equally fine, but tragically, JULY RHAPSODY was to be her final performance, as she succumbed to cancer late last year.
Tue Oct 26: 5; Wed Oct 27: 2:45 & 6:45

INNER SENSES / YEE DO HUNG GAAN
Lo Chi-Leung, Hong Kong, 2002; 100m
The final performance by Leslie Cheung, best known for his work in films such as Happy Together and Farewell My Concubine. Here Cheung plays Jim, a psychiatrist growing increasingly involved with one of his patients, Yan. Seeing how much she's suffering, Jim devotes extra effort to Yan's case, and gradually achieves results, and Yan more and more can lead a normal life. But then Jim starts having some disturbing visions of his own. Ghost stories are staples of Chinese literature and film, but what sets INNER SENSES apart is the uncertainty director Lo is able to maintain as to whether these apparitions come from within or from without. The film also features the first important role for Karena Lam (Yan), currently one of Hong Kong's most sought-after young stars. Wed Oct 27: 4:50 & 8:50; Thurs Oct 28: 4

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