News

“The Grand Grandmaster” sees Hong Kong comedian Dayo Wong produce a kung-fu parody that maybe has more to say than one would first notice. Selling his own home to fund the piece, taking the lead role, directing and writing the movie, it is safe to say that he has faith in his ability, and who can blame him, as his last movie, “Agent Mr Chan”, was a huge success. Beyond aiming to be a comedic crowd pleaser though, Wong seems to be using the film as a vehicle to offer his thoughts about a current issue in China, and as a vehicle to help keep the Hong Kong industry separate from the mainland.

“The Grand Grandmaster” is screening at CAAMFest Forward

Martial arts is a huge part of Chinese culture, and recently its been a constant source of debate. Is this form of self-defence usable outside of a lesson? Or...

Hong Kong Actor/Director Chi Wah Wong most recent film “The Grand Grandmaster” is set for release on January 23rd. The action comedy stars Annie Liu, alongside director Chi Wah Wong (“24 Hours Ghost Story”). In anticipation of the films release Golden Scene has released a trailer, which can be viewed below.

Synopsis

The Grandmaster Fei Lung lost everything after he got defeated by Tsang. To regain his reputation, Fei Lung challenges her to a final fight. Much to his surprise, he gradually falls in love with Tsang. Will he be able to win both Tsang’s heart and the battle at the end?...

The new comedy-action movie “The Grand Grandmaster“, directed by and starring Hong Kong comedian Dayo Wong Tze-wah, is slated to be released during Lunar New Year, courtesy of distribution company Golden Scene.

Wong, whose comedies often explore the city’s social issues, is known for writing jokes that most Hongkongers can relate to.

Director

Dayo Wong Tze Wah

Cast

Dayo Wong Tze-wah (“Agent Mr. Chan”)

Annie Liu (“Natural Born Lovers”)

Hui Shiu Hung

Ivana Wong

Catherine Chau

Fama

Synopsis

The grandmaster Fei Lung lost everything after he got defeated by Tsang. To regain his reputation, Fei Lung challenges her to a final fight. Much to his surprise, he gradually falls in love with Tsang. Will he be able to win both Tsang’s heart and the battle at the end?...

Hong Kong-based Edko Films is launching sales at Filmart on actor Nick Cheung’s second feature as director, horror film Master Fat, in which he also stars with Amber Kuo and Shi Xing Yu.

Cheung made his feature directing debut last year with another horror film, Ghost Rituals, in which he starred with Annie Liu and Carrie Ng.

His new horror tells the story of an exorcist, who becomes famous when his exorcisms are recorded and go viral on the internet, but then attract unwanted attention from the media and the underworld.

Edko is also launching sales on Ferris Lin’s Boundless, a documentary about Hong Kong director Johnnie To, and previously announced action title The Bodyguard, directed by Sammo Hung, which Edko is co-producing with Davie Linde’s Lava Bear.

After a string of successes in front of the camera, including Nightfall, Unbeatable and The White Storm, Hong Kong actor Nick Cheung has become one of the hottest and most sought-after performers in town. He wields so much power in the local industry that the 46-year-old is now venturing behind the camera to write and direct his first feature. The result is Hungry Ghost Ritual, a straight up supernatural horror flick in which Cheung also stars, alongside Carrie Ng, Annie Liu and Cathryn Lee. July marks the Chinese Ghost Festival in the Lunar calendar, when the door to hell is opened and ghosts can wander into the human world in an effort to deter them from haunting people during the rest of the year. To entertain the...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

The directorial debut of Hong Kong Best Actor winner, Nick Cheung, entitled Ghost Rituals, is scaring up interest at this year's Cannes Film Market, and we've got the details you need to see if this is one haunt you're interested in visiting!

From the Press Release

Darclight Films, the edgy genre-driven label of Arclight Films, is pleased to announce the world market premiere of horror-thriller Ghost Rituals in Cannes. Multiple Best Actor Award Winner Nick Cheung (Unbeatable, The Stool Pigeon), who has over 60 films to his credit and a huge following at the box office, makes his directorial debut with this latest horror piece staring himself, Annie Liu (Floating City), Lam Wai (The Silent War, Adventure Of The King) and Carrie Ng (The Silent War, Hi, Fidelity).

The Hong Kong-Malaysian coproduction will be released in July in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Ghost Rituals is produced by Adrian Teh,...

Darclight has boarded the Nick Cheung-directed supernatural thriller Ghost Rituals and is handling sales of the film at Cannes. This will be the first film Cheung has directed since 1987 when he did Ninja vs. Ninja. Cheung will star alongside Annie Liu, Lam Wai and Carrie Ng. Here's a bit more about the project...

The post Opera and the Supernatural Collide in Ghost Rituals appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Patrick Kong, Hong Kong’s top purveyor of cynical urban romantic comedy, returns with more of the same in “Natural Born Lovers”. It’s easy enough to see why Kong has proved so popular with audiences, as in trying to balance rom-com fluffiness with scepticism and darker touches, he does offer something a little different and less patronising than most genre fare. After a brief flirtation with horror with “Hong Kong Ghost Stories”, his latest outing sees him returning to more familiar territory, following up on “Love is the Only Answer” with another tale of love torture and rocky relationships. The plot is certainly very Patrick Kong, following actor and singer Julian Cheung Chi Lam (“The Grandmasters”) as Tayler, a pastry chef and former child star, who meets and falls for gorgeous nurse Bo (Annie Liu, “Exodus”). Although everything seems to be going well at first, Lam soon comes to...

It’s always good to keep an eye on the progressing careers of 1980s Hong Kong New Wave directors, and so “Floating City”, the 13th outing from helmer Yim Ho is likely to be of immediate interest for fans. Having been responsible for a number of highly regarded films, in particular “Homecoming” and “Red Dust”, Yim Ho returns to the kind of personal historical and social drama he became known for with a true life tale of an ethnic minority, mixed race fisherman who rises to the top of the British East India Company in Hong Kong during the end of the colonial period. Taking on the challenging, decade spanning lead role is popular actor Aaron Kwok (“Murderer”), with support from actresses Charlie Young (who worked with Kwok on the award winning “After This Our Exile”), Annie Liu (“Exodus”), Josie Ho (“Dream Home”), and veteran Paw Hee Ching (“The Way...

China 3D Group, the company behind Hong Kong's most successful film of 2011, 3D Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, has revealed to Twitch their slate of films for the coming twelve months, and they've got some pretty entertaining looking projects in the pipeline.First up is Natural Born Crazy Lovers, a romantic comedy starring Cheung Chi Lam (Kidnap, The 1St Seventh Night) and Annie Liu (Exodus). The film is to be directed by Patrick Kong, who has enjoyed a string of modest hits in the last couple of years, including Marriage To A Liar and Love Is The Only Answer and is set to start filming on 15 February 2012.The second film to go into production is easily the most exciting of the three: a 3D...

Toronto International Film Festival

HONG KONG -- Blue Beard gets his comeuppance in Pan Ho Cheung's "The Exodus" ("Chu Aiji Ji"), a suave black-comedy thriller about men-killing women. The Hong Kong director's 6th feature has climbed onto the festival bus that takes off in Toronto, gears up for competition at San Sebastian and will make stops at Pusan and Tokyo.

"The Exodus" opens with a surreal non-dialogue sequence accompanied by a haunting adagio by Mozart and a mesmerizingly long take that lasts a full five minutes, with a photo of Queen Elizabeth II occupies the first frame (a pre-1997 setting that also signifies female sovereignty). The camera gradually tracks down a corridor to reveal "snorkelers" hammering a man into a bloody pulp, but the scene's symbolic significance does not hit home until later.

Back in the present, Sergeant Tsim Kin Yip (Simon Yam) interrogates suspect Kwan Ping Man (Nick Cheung), arrested for filming women in toilets. Kwan claims to be investigating a "syndicate of men-killing women" who make their crimes look like natural or accidental deaths. Yip dismisses him as a lunatic -- until his statement goes missing and he retracts his words.

Despite warnings from his superior Mdm. Fong, Tsim latches on to the case, causing a growing rift with his wife Amy (Annie Liu). Kwan goes missing, and is found dead. Tsim tracks down Kwan's foxy ex-wife Pun Siu Yuen (Irene Wan), but his ardour for investigation dissipates when Pun seduces him. Meanwhile, Amy's buried past, including the ritual meaning of her collection of figurines, begins to surface.

Since "Isabella", Pang has been straining at seriousness. The film's music is composed with a classical resonance and the pace and editing has slowed down, with non-dialogue, geometrically-composed and arty long takes replacing his early, frenetically edited, spoofy and coarsely wacky romps.

A sense of women's omniscience and omnipotence is effectively conveyed. The characters' interactions are mostly captured stealthily in long and medium shots through a window or from a height, to simulate the view from a surveillance camera. The dominant visual tone is steely blue and gloomy green, with occasional outbursts of red – evoking on a sensory level the predominance of yin. Actors display a deliberate opacity of expression that enhances the mysterious lurking beneath the mundane.

Tsim is initially depicted like a "Twilight Samurai" who'd rather go home to his wife than drink with the boys. So his infidelity is too sudden and unconvincing, unless Pang's is trying to make the point that men are by nature corrigible, which puts him on as morally dodgy grounds as the inference that women have a murderous axe to grind.

Is this radical feminism or the paranoia of a misogynist? The film does not delve into such issues. It's more of an exercise in polished structure and clever twists. Pay attention to the dialog or you won't get the ending.

EXODUS

Filmko Entertainment/Making Film

Director: Pang Ho Cheung

Writers: G C Goobi, Jimmy Wan, Pang Ho Cheung

Producers: Stanley Tong, Cheung Hong Tat

Executive producers: Harvey Wong, Song Dai

Director of photography: Charlie Lam

Production designer: Man Lim Chung

Music: Gabriele Roberto

Editor: Stanley Tam

Cast:

Tsim Kin Yip: Simon Yam

Amy Cheung Fong: Annie Liu

Pun Siu Yuen: Irene Wan

Kwan Ping Man: Nick Cheung

Maggie Shiu: Mdm. Fong Chi Tsing

No MPAA, running time 94 minutes...