HK's Top 10 Movies

[skylee]

From this week's HK Magazine (covers films from 1975 to the present) -

10. Once Upon a Time in China/黃飛鴻 (1991) - Legendary martial-arts hero Wong Fei-hung takes on foreign invaders while protecting his westernized Aunt Yee. Directed by Tsui Hark, starring Jet Li and Rosamund Kwan.

9. Summer Snow/女人四十 (1995) - A woman takes care of her father-in-law who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Directed by Ann Hui, starring Josephine Siao Fong-fong and Roy Chiao.

8. An Autumn's Tale/秋天的童話 (1987) - A native Hong Kong girl goes to university in New York, where her streetwise cabbie uncle looks out for her. Directed by Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting, starring Chow Yun-fat and Cherie Chung.

7. Rouge/胭脂扣 (1987) - A prostitute and her wealthy lover agree to a suicide pact in the 1930s. She dies, he doesn't. Fifty years later, her ghost places a personal ad in a newspaper to find him. Directed by Stanley Kwan, starring Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui.

6. The Mission/鎗火 (1999) - After a failed assassination attempt, a triad boss hires five hitmen for protection, then orders one to kill another. Directed by Johnny To, starring Anthony Wong, Simon Yam and Elaine Eca Da Silva.

5. Comrades: Almost A Love Story/甜蜜蜜 - A mainlander arrives in Hong Kong hoping to save enough money to marry his sweetheart, but falls in love with a local girl instead (skylee says, actually the girl is also an immigrant who arrives in HK on the same day as the guy but she speaks Cantonese). Directed by Peter Chan, starring Leon Lai and Maggie Cheung.

4. Infernal Affairs/無間道 (2002) - An undercover cop rises through the triad ranks, while a triad mole infiltrates the police force with equal success. Directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung.

3. Made in Hong Kong/香港製造 (1997) - Teenage triad debt collector Autumn Moon struggles to find meaning in violent, post-handover Hong Kong. Directed by Fruit Chan, startring Sam Lee.

2. Days of Being Wild/阿飛正傳 (1992) - Set in 1960, two girls - one shy, one glitzy - compete for a boyish guy raised by a prostitute and searching for his real mother. Directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau and Carina Lau.

1. A Better Tomorrow/英雄本色 (1986) - A tale of two brothers: a rookie cop and a counterfeiter who tries to go straight but comes under pressure from his triad bosses. Directed by John Woo, starring Chow Yun-fat, Lung Ti and Leslie Cheung.

(skylee says, the most important actors on this list - Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau)

[skylee]

Runners-up -

1. Kung Fu Hustle/功夫 (2004) - A wannabe gangster tries to join the "Axe Gang" in 1940s Guangzhou. Directed by and starring Stephen Chow.

2. The Private Eyes/半斤八兩 (1976) - The Hui brothers struck box office gold with a series of comedy vignettes about private investigators. Directed by and starring Michael Hui, co-starring Samuel Hui and Ricky Hui.

3. Chungking Express/重慶森林 (1994) - Two stories about lovestruck cops dealing with the breakup of their relationships (skylee says, I think there is only one cop). Shot in impressionist splashes of color. Directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Tony Leung, Faye Wong and Brigitte Lin.

4. Long Arm of the Law/省港旗兵 (1984) - Gritty heist movie in which a mainland gang attempts to raid a jewelry store in Hong Kong. Directed by Johnny Mak, starring Lin Wei, Wong Kin, Shum Wei.

5. Police Story/警察故事 (1985) - A cop single-handedly arrests a drug lord, who sets out to get revenge by framing him for murder. Directed by Stanley Tong, starring Jackie Chan and Maggie Cheung.

[TSkillet]

I know these top 10/top 15 lists are difficult and subjective . .. but wow - no

*"In the Mood for Love"

*Drunken Master II

*Police Story III: Supercop

I'd personally also argue for Ringo Lam's "City on Fire" but maybe that's just me.

[skylee]

Yeah I also wonder where "In the mood for love" is.

[pikachew]

My tops are:

-- Days of Being Wild

-- Comrades: Almost a Love Story

I also love ChungKing Express.

I know people in Hong Kong love An Autumn's Tale. Actually, I've never met anyone from HK or TW who didn't like that movie.

I'm surprised that a Moment of Romance or As Tears Go By is not on their list. I thought people in HK love those two films.

The problem with those lists is that they are much too heavy on recent films - that is, movies made in the past 20 years or so. A movie like Lover Eterne (Butterfly Lovers) from 1963 or 1963 was the all time box office record holder for many years in TW and did extremely well in HK, but it sometimes comes in pretty low on many "All-Time best films" lists. There was some kind of best 100 Chinese movies of all time list recently and it was listed I think in maybe the 38th spot? Which, historically, is pretty impossible to rank it that low.