Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Hong Kong Films Nolstalgia (3)....香港電影回顧(三)

The Last and Final Post of the trilogy on Hong Kong Cinema from the early to mid 1990s... the Golden Years..


情人的眼淚 Lover's Tears (1996) Cast: Carmen Lee, Derek Yee
Poignant tale about a woman who marries a widower but loses him in a car accident which leaves him in a permanent state of coma and how she has to take care of his two children under tough circumstances whereby they are reduced to living in a small rented room from their mansion...also deals with her relationship with an ex-cop whom is now a long-distance lorry driver and his love for her.....

沒有老公的日子 Tragic Commitment (1995) Cast: Anita Yuen, Josie Ho, Jeannie Yip

Immensely touching film about a widow who only finds out that her husband had an affair with a hostess and that the hostess is pregnant with his son upon her husband's death in an accident. She then has to learn to come to terms with all this as well as accept the woman into her wealthy life as her mother-in-law wishes for a grandson which this woman can give given that her son is dead....very touching, especially the ending....

宋家皇朝 Soong Sisters (1997) Cast: Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, Veronica Wu
About the Soong Sisters and their lives....also chronicles China in the early 20th century...won numerous awards then incl. Best Picture, Musical Score,etc

三個相愛的少年 Oh! My three guys (1993) Cast: Jacqualine Wu, Lau Ching Wan, Eric Kot

Three gay men in Hong Kong in the early 90s...their lives, their loves, and their attempts to reconcile and face their homosexuality....Lau Ching Wan is in the closet,forever afraid ppl will find out about him with Jacqualine Wu in hot pursuit of him, Dayo Wong has problems with his boyfriend and my favourite Eric Kot is kicked out of the house by his father who cannot accept his 'perversion'....i really like this film despite the obligatory ending often found in gay-themed films of the early 90s (it was still quite conservative then) whereby Lau Ching Wan 'turns' straight and falls for Wu...i found the Eric Kot story one of THE best and most emotionally powerful scenes of any gay films i have ever seen...it involved him contracting AIDS and his final words thru a videocam to his friends as well as his father...it really tore at my heart and i cried so loudly as if my own relative had contracted AIDS and left the video after his death..Eric kot was nominated for a best actor award in 94 for the role...

梁祝 The Lovers (1993) Cast: Charlie Young, Nick Wu

Based on the classic Chinese tale about a woman who pretends to be a man in order to enter school and how her classmate falls for her without realising she is actually a woman...

飛一般愛情故事 Love is not a Game, But a Joke! (1997) Cast: Shu Qi, Andy Hui

Three friends and their stories with three women....i really like this film alot...

花月假期 Love in the Time of Twillight (1994) Cast: Nick Wu, Charlie Young

A Fantastic little film by Tsui Hark set in the 1920s in Canton whereby a man is killed and his spirit is trapped in the electric lines and how he enlists the help of a woman to help him find out who murdered him as he can't remember as well as the romance which blossoms between them...
Other recommended films: Cos there is simply too many, i will just state their names and year of release and cast..further there are many more films that I would highly recommend which i have not included given the amount of good films so have a look around urself:)
Golden Girls (1995) Cast: Lau Ching Wan, Anita Yuen...
Killing Me Tenderly (1997) Cast: Leon Lai, Sammi Cheng....
Red Rose White Rose (1994) Cast: Winston Chao, Joan Chen, Veronica Yip....

A Continuation of HK Stars of that era i like: 葉玉卿 Veronica Yip.....undisputely the most famous soft porn star of the early 90s...i am sure anyone( especially Chinese men!!) whom still remember the early 1990s will remember Veronica....she acted in 6 soft porn films which reaped in millions in profits and shot her to fame...she later quit soft porn and acted in more mainstream roles and films but was and is still remembered for her soft porn films....she is one of my favourite Hong Kong actresses of the time which is funny given the feminist in me and how i obviously don't like women but i really like Veronica, the ex-porn star...haha...i actually have never seen her porn films and fell in love with her cos of her fantastic portrayals of traditional feminine women roles (ironic given her fame in more 'juicy' roles) in 'Hong Kong on fire 1941' as the traditional obedient sister who sacrifices herself and is raped by the Japanese soldiers as well as in 'Red Rose, White Rose' in which Veronica plays the docile wife who represents and fulfils every man's dream of the ideal submissive Chinese wife...

Red rose, White rose..Veronica being the traditional submissive wife who shows her frustration at the loveless marriage through non-controntational means...she is the one with the white veil....below is Veronica during her 'soft-porn' days...even i can understand why the average male went ga-ga over her...haha...

Veronica in the 2000s with her child...she quit acting in 1996 and married an American-Chinese tycoon, moving to New York...

楊采妮 She is one of my favourite actresses of all time,Charlie Young...she is just sooo pretty...haha...i seem to have tons of favourite actresses but hardly any male ones...gosh!.....anyways, she quit acting around 1998 but re-started her acting career in 2004....

Hope the three post are useful for those readers who haven't seen some of the films or who have never seen Hong Kong films...well, despite the crappy HK films in recent years, there are really good ones from the earlier 1990s which i have recommended so check them out!!

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