City on Fire: Hong Kong CinemaHong Kong’s film industry gained global attention in the 1980s, at the time of negotiations over Great Britain’s return of the colony to China. Uncertainty about the post-handover era accelerated Hong Kong’s race for economic growth, and found expression in cinema’s depictions of a ‘city on fire.’ In this accessible introduction to the extraordinary cinematic output of the colony, Michael Hoover and Lisa Stokes review the directors and films that have established Hong Kong cinema internationally: John Woo’s martial arts flicks, Tsui Hark’s wire-worked fantasies, Ann Hui’s exile melodramas, Stanley Kwan’s limpid romances, and Wong Kar-wai’s stylish art films. |
Contents
ONE Mapping the Territory | 1 |
TWO Reeling in the Years | 17 |
THREE Whose Better Tomorrow? | 38 |
SEVEN To Live Love and Die in the Time of Twilight | 141 |
EIGHT Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong | 169 |
EPILOGUE Hong Kong Calling | 308 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action actors Asian audience Better Tomorrow boss British camera Cantonese capital capitalist cent Chan's Chang characters Chiau China Chinese Ching Chow Yun-fat colony comedy courtesy/permission cultural director Doyle economic emotional fight film industry film's filmmakers gangster genre ghost Golden Harvest handover happy hero Hollywood Hong Kong Cinema Hong Kong film Hong Kong movies Jackie Chan jing John Woo Killer Kong's Kongers kung fu Kwan labor Leslie Cheung living Mainland male martial arts Marx opera Ouyang Feng Peter Chan picture plays Po-wing police political production Qing relationship says scene screen Shanghai shooting shot social song Stanley Tong stars story streets studio swordsman television tells theater Tony Leung Chiu-wai Tony Leung Ka-fai Triad Tsui Hark Wing woman women Wong Fei-hung Wong Kar-wai Wong's Woo's Yeoh York Young and Dangerous Yuen