The New York Asian Film Festival opened today featuring four films from Hong Kong. Among those chosen were two by Johnnie To’s Milkyway Productions, Mad Detective and Sparrow. A pair of hyper-stylized adaptations of Japanese comic books, Sasori, and Shamo, are also on the menu. What’s the story behind these selections? (more…)

Tuesday night I headed out to Megabox in Kowloon Bay for the premiere of 6th Floor Rear Flat 2. The film is a sequel to the sleeper hit directed by Barbara Wong in 2003. What was the turnout like in far-away Kowloon Bay? (more…)

As I’ve mentioned before, the film festival marks the anniversary of my first-ever visit to Hong Kong. What you may not know however, is that my first few friends in this town were film nerds! (more…)

The 32nd Hong Kong International Film Festival is set to begin on March 17th. This is the time of year you get to see films that otherwise wouldn’t make it to Hong Kong cinemas.

The festival has an extensive website that lists the films and the show times, however I find the best way to get a grasp on the hundreds of movies is to pick up a copy of their program guide. The guides are free and can usually be found at art venues around the city. For example, the Cultural Centre in T.S.T., City Hall in Central, and the Wanchai Arts Center, will all have copies sitting around. Inside you’ll find more information about the festival and a synopsis of the movies. (more…)

As usual, I tried to hide from any reviews that would taint my impressions of the new Stephen Chow film CJ7 before I had a chance to watch it. Yesterday I finally made it to the theater to have a look. Despite the early afternoon screening, the cinema was packed. Selecting my seat, I took the last good spot in the house.

I was curious what to expect as a follow up to Kung Fu Hustle, Stephen Chow’s last film, which I thought was excellent. I tried to keep in mind that CJ7 was created as a Chinese New Year film, which carries certain qualities with it. Typical Chinese New Year fare is family-friendly, and usually stays away from anything depressing or negative.

A major development since the last time Stephen Chow released a film is the greater access to Mainland China’s box office. Just over the last year, Hong Kong films have attained record openings in China that have boosted their success. This is a significant new opportunity that didn’t exist in the past. A large Mainland box-office may mean much more to a Hong Kong production than foreign sales elsewhere since Mainland companies often contribute to financing films. (more…)

Visiting Shanghai for New Year’s, I was surprised to see the new Wong Kar Wai film “My Blueberry Nights,” already showing. This is the Hong Kong director’s first major English-language work and features A-list actors, Jude Law and Natalie Portman, as well as boasts the film debut of the singer Norah Jones. That’s about as high profile a Hollywood project as you can get, which means that people are going to view it with equally large expectations. The biggest question here is can Wong Kar Wai practice his craft successfully in a foreign language? Back in Hong Kong, I had the opportunity to see for myself. (more…)

If female secret agents, cat burglars and jewel thieves are your cup of tea, you can’t miss the upcoming program at the Hong Kong Film Archive. Titled “Licensed to Kick (Men): The Jane Bond Films,” the series showcases one of the coolest, most fascinating genres of Hong Kong cinema. (more…)

Feeling kind of bored on Tuesday night, I decided to head over to Causeway Bay to catch Lau Ching Wan’s new film, Mad Detective. The movie was directed by long time collaborators Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai, who have created some of my favorite contemporary Hong Kong films. While they often take on different genres, there’s always something quirky about their work that I like.

An entertaining, intricately woven morality tale, Mad Detective represents a significant triumph for the two directors. Here Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai have perfected a kind of concept they have been dabbling with for a decade. Not only were they able to pull off employing challenging sub-scenarios within the film, they made these complex devices both gripping and moving. This was not lazy filmmaking. (more…)

Last month I read something about the latest installment of Hollywood’s Batman franchise coming to shoot in Hong Kong. I didn’t think too much about it until I was running a small errand in my neighborhood and I stumbled upon the set. (more…)

Blood Brothers, a film starring two of my favorites, Daniel Wu and Hsu Chi, opens tomorrow in Hong Kong cinemas. The film is produced by John Woo, which marks his first return to Hong Kong / Chinese cinema in a long, long time (fifteen years?) Blood Brothers is a period piece gangster picture set in Shanghai during the decadent 1930’s. But if Woo is the producer, who’s the director? (more…)