THE PERCEPTION OF HONG KONG CINEMA IN THE WEST

This is one of the few articles that I wrote in English for a magazine (I'm French). It was published in Hong Kong in 2005, in  the issue n°15 of "WeatEast Magazine". Don't hesitate to give me your (good or bad) comments about it...

In the seventies, westerners discovered Hong Kong cinema through kung fu movies. In the eighties and the nineties, Hong Kong cinema was mostly associated to one genre: action. Have things changed since the new millennium?

*American Me

In 1973, major American player Warner Brothers distributed the Hong Kong movie (also known as ) ,produced by the prestigious Shaw Brothers studios. It broke U.S. box office records for a foreign production. In the same year, it was also released in several other countries around the world (France, Germany, Venezuela, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, England) and had found similar success. This is how the mainstream western audience was introduced to Hong Kong cinema. Two years before, the local movie industry was in a slump, and industry people focused on creating new ideas to woo the global market. They succeeded with kung-fu movies. Since then, Hong Kong cinema was strongly associated with martial arts. This is quite logical since Hong Kong filmmakers, actors, and action directors are the best in the martial arts genre.

Twenty years later in 2003, Warner Brothers bought the U.S. remake rights of , a Hong Kong blockbuster which was originally made to compete with the increasing dominance of American movies in South East Asia. It was released in Hong Kong in 2002—which was (financially) the worst year for Hong Kong cinema ever knew.  The huge success of the movie was a miracle (HK$55 million at the local box-office). In 2004, was released in France by TFM (distribution company of TF1 and Miramax movies) on 80 screens and grossed around 1 million euros (more than HK$9 millions). That same year, Miramax released the movie in North America on 5 screens only, all in New York City. The movie grossed US$ 89,594 (around HK$695,000).

is not a kung-fu movie, nor even an action movie. It is a psychological thriller, where the storyline and filming is very Hollywood in style. So why did it have such limited distribution in America? Because it was screened in the original Cantonese with English subtitles, like many Asian “art films”?  Or maybe because the American audience is not familiar with the main actors, Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, both huge stars in Hong Kong but still relatively unknown in America? One sure thing, the theatrical U.S. release cannot compete with the remake directed by Martin Scorsese ( ) which will be widely released in America in 2006.

*All due respect

One of the reasons that Andy Lau didn’t move to Hollywood--like Jackie Chan or Chow Yun-fat—was because he believes that majors studios have too little respect for Chinese filmmaking. If you look at the U.S. DVD cover of , you’ll probably think he’s right. Released in August 2005 by Miramax Home Entertainment, the cover shows a very cheesy picture of a sexy armed girl who doesn’t even appear in the movie. The two lead actors are almost invisible in the dark background, while the gorgeous Asian babe hogs the limelight. This is how an award-winning film from Hong Kong can be sold in the US, like a vulgar B-movie. This marketing strategy will mislead many customers for sure.

But

is not the worst case of that kind. False advertising seems to be a common practice when it is about Hong Kong cinema. Recently, a double-disc DVD was released in America by Ventura Distribution, boasting of two movies named and . The cover shows a picture of Andy Lau and Tony Leung—obviously pilfered from . Those “new movies” are in fact two old Hong Kong films: a 1991 comedy named (how ironic) and a 1999 triad movie directed by Wong Jing, . Another company, Front Row Video, even sold a drama directed by Ann Hui, (1981), like an action movie by renaming it , which is a smart combination of two successful movies starring Chow Yun-fat, (1990) and (1989). It is the only English subtitled version available in the world, but it is unreadable most of the time because the picture is center-framed and the subtitles are cut off on the sides. Sometimes being a fan of Hong Kong movies can be very tough for a foreigner.

*Back to the past

For many years, the majority of Hong Kong movies were victims of terrible re-editing, bad renamed titles, and awful dubbing jobs that make every character sound like cheesy Asian stereotypes. Things changed in the nineties in Europe, when some distribution companies released high quality collections of Hong Kong movies in VHS or DVD formats. There was Hong Kong Legend in the UK, HK Video in France, and Criterion Collection in America.

But many other movies didn’t have this chance. For example, the U.S. DVD cover of , a 1983 Jackie Chan movie (he was 29 years old at that time), shows a picture of him took at least 12 years later, mixed with another one of Sammo Hung taken from the U.S. television series

(1998-2000). There is another case concerning Jackie Chan’s

(1991), also known in Hong Kong as . When the first (1987) was released in America, they renamed it . Some Jet Li movies suffer a similar fate. One example : because the U.S. DVD of (a 1994 remake of the kung fu classic starring Bruce Lee) sold quite well, the folks at Miramax released another Jet Li movie: , a martial arts saga set in ancient China, but renamed it To add a little more to the confusion, they also put on the DVD cover a picture took from , because they didn’t want to show Jet Li with a half-shaved head and extended ponytail.

The main reason that so many 80s or 90s movies with Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat, or Jet Li were released on DVD these last few years, is because those actors started a second career in Hollywood after the Hong Kong handover which met an international audience. Indeed, in 1998, Jackie Chan did , Chow Yun-fat  did , and Jet Li starred in . That’s why movies like (1994) and (1993) were released in the French theatres almost ten years after they were made. Let’s face it, Hong Kong action movies are more bankable in the West than any other genre but with Wong Kar-wai’s art house gem being the only exception: In France, made more money than

for example. The other popular directors probably include John Woo, Tsui Hark, Johnnie To and more recently Stephen Chow since his comedies have become more action-oriented. Even the Shaw Brothers classics from the 60s, 70s, and 80s (released in French on DVD in 2004) are all swordplay or kung-fu movies because the distributor will not risk releasing other genres like , comedies, romances, or dramas.  

• Deep Hong Kong

Western audiences are only receptive towards period Chinese films. That’s why a director like Derek Yee is popular in Hong Kong, but still unknown in France. His crime-drama, , probably the best Hong Kong movie of 2004, illustrates more about Hong Kong than because the story is very close to the reality .In the movie, the character played by Daniel Wu (a hired killer from the mainland who’s supposed to kill a Hong Kong triad boss) seems very authentic. Since Hong Kong was returned to China by Britain in 1997, illegal immigration from the mainland has been the most sensitive issue confronting the territory's government. In Hong Kong, there are widespread perceptions that some mainlanders coming in as tourists are actually prostitutes or criminals. So, foreign audiences will be able to appreciate if they are sensitive to the realities of Hong Kong.

Derek Yee has a strong background in Hong Kong cinema. He started as an actor at Shaw Brothers in 1976, then became a director in 1986 with , a melodrama about the mentally ill. Most of his movies discuss social ills and try to show Hong Kong is the most realistic way. In most big productions, only the glamorous side of Hong Kong is shown, but Derek Yee chooses to put his camera inside the real Hong Kong. It may be less beautiful, but his films are more interesting and fascinating.

Fruit Chan did it too (now he seems to be more into commercial movies since he directed the horror movie ). Pang Ho-cheung is also starting to do it in his way (mostly though comedies in a social setting). But there are still a lot of new filmmakers who are ready to come out but cannot just yet.

The economic situation of Hong Kong cinema is still not good. Ten years ago, Hong Kong was producing 300 movies a year, but produced only 50  this year. It was a very healthy industry, and there was a good balance between art and commercial movies (which were not really expensive). Now commercial movies are mostly Mega productions, backed by foreign investors and souped up with very expensive CGI effects ( , for example). The gulf between big and small movies is becoming bigger and bigger.

*Young People

Derek Yee is also the chairman of the Hong Kong Directors Association since 2001, and he is convinced that directors should work on independent movies. Yee invested his own money in his two last movies, the youth drama and ,,a romantic comedy made obviously for commercial reasons, considering the alarming state of the Hong Kong film industry.  In order to make those projects come true, he had to hire big names because it was the only way to attract local audiences. There are only a few really talented actors or actresses among the young newcomers. Most of them are mostly Cantopop idols who don’t even know how to act. Actors of the new generation are not working on their craft like Tony Leung Chiu-wai when he was acting at TVB, playing all kind of roles in various dramas and comedies.

Of course there are a few hard workers like Daniel Wu, who is currently very much in-demand not only because of his fame, but also because of his acting skill. But Westerners only know the “overacting” side of Daniel Wu in his supporting role in the Hollywood feature , and the Hong Kong blockbuster , both starring Jackie Chan. But he delivers much better performances in smaller productions like and Pang Ho-cheung’s .  Both were acclaimed at film festivals but still unreleased in foreign countries.

*Indie Stories

If Derek Yee has difficulty in producing his movies, how can the unknown directors cope?  One solution is to attract the attention of production companies, financiers, and the Hong Kong government by creating an event. In March 2005, a group of filmmakers organized a campaign called “I Shot Hong Kong” to help promote independent filmmaking in Hong Kong. They premiered three short movies, all self-funded, during the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Colette Koo, the producer of one of the short movies , started to work 20 years ago as an actress for big Hong Kong studios (Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest) and Hollywood. Seven years ago, she cho ose to work with independent Hong Kong cinema people, because she thinks this is where the new talent comes from, and this is the future of Hong Kong cinema.

Finally, the screening of the 20-minute experimental drama

directed by Antony Szeto, received encouraging response from potential investors. Now they can start production of a full length feature film . Even Hong Kong star Anthony Wong accepted a role in the movie, because he was impressed by the short film shot with three digital cameras. Director Antony Szeto says will not be an experimental movie like the short, but will be done in a experimental way. The story is about a teen age Eurasian girl who comes to Hong Kong from France to be famous in the entertainment industry, and she keeps a video diary during her journey. Antony Szeto promised to show the audience a very different side of Hong Kong in this movie. We’re looking forward to seeing the fresh face of Hong Kong film.

Frederic AMBROISINE (October 12 th 2005)