It’s the curse of festivals in March and April to be eclipsed by the large shadows cast by Berlin and Cannes. Caught between being old news and not-quite news, festivals such as Jeonju and Hong Kong are still hoping that their local premieres will be smiled upon by Cannes. What Hong Kong has that many other festivals don’t is its sidebar event, Filmart. Now in it’s year 19th year, Filmart which not only further promotes the Hong Kong International Film Festival, but allows companies from around the world to spruik their wares to Asia – and vice versa. When it comes to movies arriving in our cinemas, there’s always companies like Madman, Odin’s Eye and China Lion who are on the lookout for what films being promoted in Hong Kong would work at the Australian box office. Here’s a look at the sure-fire films that will arrive on Australian shores:
The Taking of Tiger Mountain
While he mostly generates films out of Mainland China nowadays, Tsui Hark is an undisputed master of Hong Kong cinema. Fond of special effects since his ‘80s/’90s heyday with films like Zu Warriors of Magic Mountain and the Chinese Ghost Story series, Tsui’s latest films have blazed the trail forward with CGI, and dazzle with colour and movement. The Taking Tiger of Mountain is Tsui’s third 3D film after Flying Swords of Dragon Gate and Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (both of which played at Melbourne and Sydney’s central cinema strips). More straightforward than those two fantastical films, The Taking of Tiger Mountain is a tale of a 1940s Communist soldier (played by Zhang Hanyu) infiltrating a Chinese bandit stronghold during the civil war. Despite the simple premise, Tsui’s films are rarely exercises in restraint and once again he delivers the sort of pumped-up thrills that action fans have come to expect. However, it’s the film’s last 10 minutes where Tsui really rips loose, and audiences will have to remember to pick up their awestruck jaws from the floor before they leave the cinema.
Source: The Taking of Tiger Mountain
From Vegas to Macau II
Forget Vegas. Forget Macau. Much of this film actually takes place in Thailand. You can also forget common sense. But if you’re up for the shameless silliness that Wong Jing can provide, and your fondness for Chow Yun-Fat remains undiminished, then you’re in for a giggle or two. Chow Yun-Fat plays a variation on his God of Gamblers roles that cemented him as a darling of Hong Kong film fans. CGI card tricks, self-referential jokes (including a nod to Xu Zheng’s 2012 Mainland box office smash, Lost in Thailand), girls in bikinis, malfunctioning robots, and more than a few explosions don’t just augment the story – they are the story. Oh, and don’t forget the fat kid with a lollipop. Nick Cheing and Chow do their best to keep a straight face during this action farce, but the winks to the audience are present throughout.
Source: From Vegas to Macau II
Wild City
One of the things about a film market is that it doesn’t just promote new films, but films that are still being made. Monkey King 2 and many others are still over 12 months away from release, so the movie that had most people drooling in anticipation was Wild City. Louis Koo plays a bar-owner who makes the mistake of befriending a drunken woman patron (Liya Tong) at closing time and then finds himself exposed to the wrath of her ex-lover attorney (Chang Hsiao-chuan) and his henchmen. While the premise and the sparingly dispensed clips promise bullets and blood, it’s the fact that Wild City marks the return of director Ringo Lam after a seven-year hiatus that truly makes it a special occasion. Well-known internationally for his Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicles, it’s the legacy of City on Fire (Chow Yun-fat again and a key reference for Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs) that truly put Lam on the world cinema map.
Source: Wild City
Beautiful 2015
While no local distributor is in place for portmanteau film Beautiful 2015, you can bet your bottom ticket stub that the names of Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Tsai Ming-liang will be too alluring for at least one of Australia’s film festivals to resist. The other two directors in the fourth instalment of the Beautiful omnibus series funded by the Hong Kong International Film Festival are ensemble are producer/director Huang Jianxin, best known for the rousing Chinese history films The Founding of a Republic and Beginning of the Great Revival, and Hong Kong director Yim Ho (Floating City). Makhmalbaf does his best to provoke in 'The Tenant' a story of an Iranian man in London working as a guide for blind tourists. Yim’s 'Three Years After My Death' sees Gigi Wong visited by an angel while in hospital. Huang’s lush, Beijing-set romantic entry 'Insomniac Diary', finds its counterpoint (and cure?) with Tsai‘s typically slooooooooow 'No, No Sleep'.
Source: Beautiful 2015
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