Tony Leung Chiu-wai - The Chinese Cinema

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Tony Leung Chiu-wai

A collection of 11 posts

Hidden Blade (Cheng Er, 2023)

Hidden Blade (Cheng Er, 2023)

When Hidden Blade was first announced, it was called Anonymous (a literal translation of its Chinese title “無名”) and stated to be the third part of a propaganda trilogy which included Andrew Lau’s 2021 COVID drama Chinese Doctors and the first (but not the second?) part of The Battle

Gorgeous (Vincent Kok, 1999)

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Gorgeous (Vincent Kok, 1999)

Hou Hsiao-hsien in Austin

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Hou Hsiao-hsien in Austin

This weekend the Austin Asian American Film Festival kicks off a month-long retrospective on Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien at the Austin Film Society [https://www.austinfilm.org/series/reality-in-long-shots-a-hou-hsiao-hsien-retrospective/] , all but one of which will be playing on 35mm film. I wrote extensively about Hou, who would probably be my

Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)

Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)

There’s a little making-of featurette on the Miramax DVD of Hero⁠[1] that has some decent interviews with the cast and crew along with some breathless Hollywood narration. Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, and Donnie Yen speak impeccable English, which makes one wonder what might have been if Hollywood wasn’

Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1998)

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1998)

Flowers of Shanghai is based on an 1892 novel by Han Bangqing, considered a masterpiece but composed largely in the Wu dialect of Chinese, which is unintelligible to Mandarin speakers. The script (by Chu T’ien-wen, of course) is based on a translation by novelist Eileen Chang who wrote the

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Father (Peter Chan, 1993)

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Father (Peter Chan, 1993)

Peter Chan Ho-sun’s 1993 comedy is a variation on Back to the Future, with Tony Leung (Chiu-wai) sent back 30 years to see what his father, Tony Leung (Ka-fai), was like when he was young, though it presents a very different take on the past and our relation to

Red Cliff (John Woo, 2009)

Red Cliff (John Woo, 2009)

Five years after his last American film, 2003’s Philip K. Dick adaptation Paycheck, and a long, troubled and expensive shoot plagued by last minute casting changes, John Woo finally released the first half of his epic two-part film Red Cliff. It proved to be a critical and commercial success

My Heart is that Eternal Rose (Patrick Tam, 1989)

My Heart is that Eternal Rose (Patrick Tam, 1989)

A Triad love story movie that stars Kenny Bee, Joey Wong, Tony Leung, Gordon Liu, and Ng Man-tat. Directed by Patrick Tam and (partially) shot by Christopher Doyle and produced by John Sham (one of Sammo Hung's Lucky Stars). If only one of Chang Cheh’s stars like David Chiang

Ashes of Time (Redux) (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)

Ashes of Time (Redux) (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)

As with My Blueberry Nights and 2046, a person trying to escape their own past romantic disappointments becomes witness to the stories of other people, and thus learns to cope with their own issues. Like Chow Mo-wan in In the Mood for Love, Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung) has lost the

Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-wai, 1990)

Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-wai, 1990)

Wong Kar-wai’s second feature is, I think, one of the great films about the post-war generation and the lingering effects the war had on their psyches and their visions of the world. Set in 1960, the main characters would have all been born in the mid to late 30s,

Infernal Affairs (Andrew Lau & Alan Mak, 2002)

Infernal Affairs (Andrew Lau & Alan Mak, 2002)

In the midst of a lengthy binge on Johnnie To movies, preparing for a They Shot Pictures episode we hope to record this weekend, I’ve tried to fit in a few other Hong Kong films that I thought might have influenced or been influenced by To’s work. I