Leslie Cheung Movies
Heartthrob, pop star, and celebrated Hong Kong actor, Leslie Cheung was one of Asia's most popular performers and intriguing personalities. Bearing an odd sensuality that both fueled the films he stared in (particularly Rouge, Viva Erotica, Days of Being Wild, and Happy Together) and the Hong Kong tabloids, Cheung was well-known for both the breadth of his work and his offscreen life. Although featured to great effect in several of John Woo's butch action outings, Cheung was notable for being one of the few Asian stars to play openly gay characters, a choice that gained particular resonance when he came out after playing one of his most famous gay roles in Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together.Born in Hong Kong on September 12, 1956, Cheung was the youngest of ten children. Influenced early on by both the film world, as his father was actor William Holden's tailor, and his parents' divorce, Cheung went on to study at England's Leeds University. After returning to Hong Kong, he jump-started his career by winning second prize in the 1976 ATV Asian Music Contest. His status as a pop singer led the way to work on television, film, and the stage. In 1981, Cheung became a bona fide star with the success of his album The Wind Blows On, which established him as Asia's most popular singer.
It was not until 1986 that Cheung's film career really gained momentum, thanks to his casting as a rookie cop opposite Chow Yun-Fat in John Woo's popular gangster film A Better Tomorrow. The film's success enabled Cheung to branch out in his film work, and, in 1988, the same year he starred in the sequel to A Better Tomorrow, he played the opium-smoking playboy lead in Stanley Kwan's Rouge, a romantic ghost story that oscillates between the Hong Kong of the 1930s and that of 1987. Rouge was one of the most widely acclaimed films to come out of Hong Kong during the 1980s and helped to establish Cheung as a romantic leading man as well as an action star.
The actor continued to work in a variety of films with some of the industry's most respected directors throughout the 1990s. In 1990, he starred in Woo's action film Once a Thief, again alongside fellow action star Chow Yun-Fat. Later, he got the chance to expand his acting palette in Wong Kar-Wai's Days of Being Wild (1991) by playing Yuddy, a thoroughly despicable heel who uses and abuses most of the women in his life. In 1993, Cheung starred in another action spectacular as Zhuo Yi-Hang, the sensitive swordsman and star-crossed romantic lead in The Bride With White Hair. That same year, he earned international acclaim and recognition for his performance as an opera star specializing in female roles in Chen Kaige's landmark historical drama Farewell, My Concubine. Cheung lent his character's complicated gender identity an unusual pathos and sensitivity, making the development of his on-stage love to off-stage longing all the more affecting. Three years later, he again worked with Chen, as a dissolute opium addict in Temptress Moon.
In 1994, he paired up with Wong Kar-Wai again as the ambivalent swordslinger hired to kill and protect the same person in the existential action epic Ashes of Time. In 1997, again with Wong, Cheung starred in perhaps the most daring role of his career as the bitchy Ho Po-wing, one of a pair of gay Chinese lovers stranded in Buenos Aires in Happy Together. The film's explicit sex scenes made Happy Together one of the most controversial movies of the year and one of the most acclaimed. Cheung subsequently starred as a sleazy softcore film producer in Viva Erotica.
Continuing to appear in numerous films through the millennial crossover, Cheung continued to gain accolades for his diverse and affecting roles. From his touching performance as a stockbroker who finds new meaning in life upon adopting a young orphan in The Kid (1999), to a haunting and eerily prophetic final role in the thriller Inner Senses (2002), his unique persona continued to earn the respect of longtime fans and reach out to those still unfamilar with Cheung's remarkable charm and captivating screen presence.
When Cheung's death from an apparent suicide was announced in April 1, 2003, the international film community suffered a devastating blow and legions of fans had a difficult time grasping how an actor of such talent could end his life with one fateful leap while still in the prime of his career. Following the news of Cheung's untimely death, fans began mourning the loss of the cinematic icon while simultaniously taking note of the tragic irony of his own fate in parallel to that of his troubled character in Inner Senses. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
John Woo established himself as one of Hong Kong's premiere action directors with this ultra-hip, ultra-violent action classic. The film centers around the complex relationship between two brothers: Sung Tse-kit (Leslie Cheung) is a recent graduate of the police academy while Tse-ho (Ti Lung) runs a massive counterfeiting ring along with his gangland associate, Mark Lee (Chow Yun-fat). Tension between the two brothers comes to a head when their father is murdered after a crime deal goes sour and Tse-ho lands in jail after being double-crossed. In perhaps the most influential scene in Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s, Mark avenges his friend by staging a dinner table assassination. As Mark tries to shoot his way out of the restaurant, pulling a series of hidden pistols from potted plants and alcoves, he gets horribly injured. With both founding members of the counterfeiting syndicate incapacitated, the operation falls into the hands of Shing (Waise Lee Chi-hung), Tse-ho's former underling who has little of his boss' élan or experience. When Tse-ho gets out of jail, he reunites with his now-crippled comrade, Mark, to take out Shing and to protect Tse-kit whose life is in danger for investigating their former subordinate. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, (more)
Following the bloody climax of the previous film, A Better Tomorrow -- again directed by John Woo -- opens with Sung Chi-hi (spelled Tse-ho in the first film though still played by Ti Lung) getting released from jail on the condition that he rat out his gangland associate and a shipyard owner, Lung (Dean Shek). Chi-ti's younger brother, a young cop named Chi-kit (Leslie Cheung), is working undercover on the case and has already gotten into the gangster's good graces by dating his daughter, Peggy (Regina Kent). Fearing that he might put his brother's life in danger, Chi-hi cooperates with the cops. Meanwhile, Lung comes to believe that he is responsible for the death of a competitor and flees to New York. There he promptly goes crazy while under the care of Ken (Chow Yun-fat), the twin brother of the sunglass and trench coat-sporting Mark who died in the previous film. During a gun battle with the Mafia who tried to blackmail the exiled crime boss, Lung miraculously regains his sanity. Together he and Ken return to Hong Kong to settle a few scores. This film's onscreen mayhem was almost matched offscreen. Director John Woo and producer Tsui Hark had radically different views of how the film ought to progress. As a result, Hark reportedly recut the film without Woo's consent, ending a long-time professional relationship between the two filmmakers. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat
Legendary Hong Kong producer/director Tsui Hark and filmmaker Ching Siutung combine forces in this high-flying supernatural romance classic. Ning Caichen (Leslie Cheung) is a lowly tax collector who takes refuge for the night at the spooky Lam Ro temple. There he encounters and promptly falls in love with a beautiful ghost named Nie Xiaoqian (Joey Wang). Unfortunately Xiaoqian is damned to serve the evil hermaphroditic tree spirit Lao Lao, who (thanks to an extraordinarily long tongue) feasts on the souls of amorous young males. Usually Xiaoqian, along with her comely sister Qing, tempts would-be Lotharios to their arboreal doom, but she too is smitten with the downtrodden wanderer. Soon afterwards, Caichen meets Master Yan (Ma Wu), a Taoist hermit, martial arts master, and a sworn enemy of Lao Lao, who tells him of Xiaoqian's true, otherworldly nature. Nonetheless, true love proves to be strong. Caichen promises Xiaoqian that he will help spring her from her dubious employment and Xiaoqian protects her love from the evil wood sprite. Later, things grow more complicated for the lovers when they learn that Xiaoqian has been betrothed to a demon warlord. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Wong Tsu Hsien, (more)
This continuation of A Chinese Ghost Story reunites some of the original cast. Ning Leslie Cheung, the wandering scholar from the first film, is mistakenly imprisoned. An old man helps him escape and gives him a medallion for good luck. Ning meets a group of rebels, and the medallion causes them to mistake him for the old man, who turns out to be a well-known sage. Joey Wong, who played the ghostly heroine in the first film, portrays Windy, the leader of the rebels. Ning falls in love with Windy because of her resemblance to his past love and joins in a struggle to save her father from an evil warlord. The romantic element is toned down from the original; this installment emphasizes outrageous martial arts sequences, creatures, and special effects. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong, (more)
When a doctor arrives in 1930's Shanghai to care for an ailing man, he becomes involved in a fierce struggle between the Nationalists and Communists. With romantic entrapments befalling him and a country on the brink of a revolution, the doctor may not be able to hide the past that he is running from. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
A radio talk-show host who offers romantic advice to his listeners discovers that his harshest critic could also be his greatest love in a tender tale of high profile romance starring Aaron Kwok and Kelly Chen. Zhang is the man that the heartbroken turn to when they're having problems in love; but when the generally helpful host opens a very public discussion concerning the private love life of local columnist Wu, the stage is set for a lively war of words. Now, as Wu begins penning a series of harshly-worded articles criticizing Zhang's top-rated radio show, these two popular media figures are about to find out just how thin the fine line between love and hate truly is. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1998
This Hong Kong comedy of relationships is based on composer J.S. Bach's "The Songbook of Anna Magdalena Bach" and is divided into four "movements," each of which presents a sticky romantic situation for the story's three protagonists: Chan (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a piano tuner; his roommate Yau (Aaron Kwok), a rather spaced-out writer; and the lovely Mok (Kelly Chen), the girl who lives upstairs from them. A complex romantic dance begins when Yau falls in love with Yok without realizing that Chan has secretly loved her for ages. This film was screened at South Korea's 1998 Pusan Film Festival. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Takeshi Kaneshiro, Aaron Kwok, (more)
Highly unusual in that it was intended as a prequel to another film's sequel, this entry in the Lee Rock series depicts events occurring before 1991's Lee Rock II, but after the events in the first film. The story centers on Sergeant Lam Kung (well-known film producer Charles Heung) and his demotion to the police department's juvenile crimes unit for arresting the wrong person, a man involved in a kickback scheme with Lam's superiors. Lam does his best in his new job, but continues to get in trouble by harassing the delinquent teenagers of wealthy and influential parents. One such protected criminal is Sam Chow, a vicious drug-dealing hoodlum who seems to operate with a free hand because of his parents' status. The troubled young center of the film is Teddy Pak (Leslie Cheung), who runs into trouble but has a heart of gold. He also has a deadbeat mother whom he must constantly save from being executed by loan sharks when she fails to repay her debts. The 1950s-style melodrama comes to a head as Sam's gang attacks Teddy's young girlfriend and murders another girl, leading Teddy to be framed for the crime unless Sgt. Lam can clear his name. A good-looking but ultimately minor addition to the series, Arrest the Restless co-stars Vivian Chow, Deanie Yip, and Paul Chun. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Master Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai directed this lyrical, dream-like martial arts epic. A famously troubled shoot, the film took two years and 40 million dollars to produce (a shocking sum for a national cinema populated with low-budget quickies) and features a virtual who's-who of the Hong Kong film world. Conceived as a prequel to the popular martial arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Hero by Jin Yong, the movie is less a straightforward action thriller than a visually striking meditation on memory and love. It nominally centers on Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), who ekes out a lonely existence as an itinerant hired sword. Getting on in years and tormented by memories of a lost love, he also works an agent for other mercenary assassins from his remote desert abode. Ouyang's old friend and fellow swordsman, Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung Kar-fai, who starred in the The Lover) drowns his lovelorn misery in a magical wine that makes him forget. Later, a mysterious young man named Murong Yang (Brigitte Lin) hires Ouyang to kill his sister's unfaithful suitor, Huang Yaoshi. The following day, that spurned sister, Murong Yin (Lin again), hires Ouyang to protect her dearly beloved. Meanwhile, Hong Qi (pop star Jackie Cheung) finds some redemption for a life of killing by accepting a poor girl's offer to avenge her brother's death -- a task that Ouyang brusquely shunned. In another subplot, a master swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) is slowly going blind. He agrees to defend a village from horse thieves so that he can afford to go home and see his wife before his eyesight fails completely. This film is one of the most celebrated examples of 1990s Hong Kong cinema: it won multiple awards in its native Hong Kong, along with a Golden Osella for Best Cinematography at the 1994 Venice Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, (more)
Master Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai directed this lyrical, dream-like martial arts epic. A famously troubled shoot, the film took two years and 40 million dollars to produce (a shocking sum for a national cinema populated with low-budget quickies) and features a virtual who's who of the Hong Kong film world. Conceived as a prequel to the popular martial arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Hero by Jin Yong, the movie is less a straightforward action thriller than a visually striking meditation on memory and love. It nominally centers on Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), who ekes out a lonely existence as an itinerant hired sword. Getting on in years and tormented by memories of a lost love, he also works an agent for other mercenary assassins from his remote desert abode. Ouyang's old friend and fellow swordsman, Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung Kar-Fai, who starred in the The Lover) drowns his lovelorn misery in a magical wine that makes him forget. Later, a mysterious young man named Murong Yang (Brigitte Lin) hires Ouyang to kill his sister's unfaithful suitor, Huang Yaoshi. The following day, that spurned sister, Murong Yin (Lin again), hires Ouyang to protect her dearly beloved. Meanwhile, Hong Qi (pop star Jacky Cheung) finds some redemption for a life of killing by accepting a poor girl's offer to avenge her brother's death -- a task that Ouyang brusquely shunned. In another subplot, a master swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) is slowly going blind. He agrees to defend a village from horse thieves so that he can afford to go home and see his wife before his eyesight fails completely. This film is one of the most celebrated examples of 1990s Hong Kong cinema: it won multiple awards in its native Hong Kong, along with a Golden Osella for Best Cinematography at the 1994 Venice Film Festival.
In the years following Ashes of Time's initial theatrical release, the original negatives were lost and multiple versions of the film began to crop up all across the globe. As a result, director Wong Kar-wai longed to compile these various versions into a restored, remastered, and definitive final cut. With Ashes of Time Redux, the director restructures the film according to seasons, effectively clarifying the central narratives, and digitally colorizes the film to render cinematographer Christopher Doyle's masterful imagery all the more lavish and intoxicatingly gorgeous. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In the years following Ashes of Time's initial theatrical release, the original negatives were lost and multiple versions of the film began to crop up all across the globe. As a result, director Wong Kar-wai longed to compile these various versions into a restored, remastered, and definitive final cut. With Ashes of Time Redux, the director restructures the film according to seasons, effectively clarifying the central narratives, and digitally colorizes the film to render cinematographer Christopher Doyle's masterful imagery all the more lavish and intoxicatingly gorgeous. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Kar-Fai, (more)
- 1984
Burdened by wooden acting and a fragmented storyline, this romantic comedy set against the posh environment of an upper-class Hong Kong elite is about the love that blossoms between a bumbling young man (Leslie Chung) and an attractive woman he meets on the subway (Maggie Cheung). Both would-be lovers are pursued by others; an heiress chases after the likeable klutz, and his subway lady-love has an ex-boyfriend who wants her back again. This Hong Kong fare seems particularly made for the local population. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, (more)
With a marvelously convoluted plot and featuring plenty of slapstick action, Chinese Feast is essentially a kung-fu film with a tasty twist: the combatants battle with knives, not to carve each other up but to make exquisite culinary delicacies. The story's impetus comes from a long-standing feud between cooking schools and centers on an upcoming cook-off in which two master chefs compete to present the most delicious version of the Qing & Han Imperial Feast staples -- monkey brains, bear paw, and elephant trunk. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Following up on his debut As Tears Go By, master filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai directs this dark, brooding tale about identity and unrequited love. Set in 1960, the film center of the young, boyishly handsome Yuddy (Leslie Cheung), who learns from the drunken ex-prostitute who raised him that she is not his real mother. Hoping to hold onto him, she refuses to divulge the name of his real birth mother. The revelation shakes Yuddy to his very core, unleashing a cascade of conflicting emotions. Two women have the bad luck to fall for Yuddy. One is a quiet lass who works at a sport arena named Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung), while the other is a glitzy showgirl named Mimi (Carina Lau). Perhaps due to his unresolved Oedipal issues, he passively lets the two compete for him, unable or unwilling to make a choice. As Lizhen slowly confides her frustration to a cop named Tide (Andy Lau), he falls for her. The same is true for Yuddy's friend Zeb (Jacky Cheung), who falls for Mimi. Later, Yuddy learns of his birth mother's whereabouts and heads out to the Philippines. This film won a armful of trophies at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Director, Best Actor for Leslie Cheung, and Best Picture. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, (more)
Leslie Cheung stars as a psycho killer in this Hong Kong bullet fest. Nick (Cheung), a former shooting range champion who has been forced to drop his career due to injury, is persuaded to compete again by his girlfriend Colleen (Ruby Wong). Nick's comeback competition is interrupted by a suicidal lunatic, whom Nick duly dispatches with a bullet to the skull. Three years later, a trial witness and four policemen are found murdered, which leads several observers to the conclusion that Nick has become a psychotic killer. With his girlfriend in custody, our anti-hero goes into hiding, vowing to kill a cop a day until his beloved is released. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Alex Fong Chung-sun, (more)
- 1980
Teen love and angst are at the nexus of this standard comedy-melodrama from director Clifford Choi. Hong Kong singer Danny Chan is the hero who is not only trying to make it through school and into life intact, he has to somehow deal with an uncle who loves his bottle just a little too much (one of many problems). As the teen slowly comes of age, a panorama of early adulthood unfolds. The story is highlighted by dissension between sons and fathers, competition in arenas as diverse as sports and love, and loyalty among true friends. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Chan, Leslie Cheung, (more)
- 1982
Chan Chuen directed this story about the many problems besetting Hong Kong youth when they reach that "energetic" age of 21. One poor rich kid has parents who do not really care much about him and another suffers under considerable stress, yet another fellow has to live down the stigma of his mother's profession (she is a high-class hooker), and although a young auto mechanic is not economically in the same rarified strata as these wealthy scions, he likes to hang out with them anyway. This world seems almost too secure to last for long, but the bored young men continue in their pursuits of auto racing and disco dancing as though nothing else mattered. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Eddie Chan, (more)
Until Farewell, My Concubine (Ba Wang Bie Ji), not many people were aware that most members of the Peking Opera were originally orphans or illegitimate castaways with nowhere else to turn. Such is the case of the film's protagonists, Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) and Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung), two homeless outcasts, trained from childhood in the grueling rigors of the Opera by master Lu Qui. The film traces the 52-year friendship between Xiaolou and Dieyi, a friendship pockmarked with fiery conflicts and tender reconciliations. Though the delicate Dieyi specializes in female roles and the gutsy Xiaolou plays noble warriors, theirs is an essentially heterosexual relationship; still, when Xiaolou takes upon himself a prostitute bride (the magnificent Gong Li), Dieyi is as petty and jealous as an outcast mistress. Farewell, My Concubine holds the viewer in thrall from start to finish; as such, it is thoroughly deserving of its many international film awards and nominations. Surprisingly, this worldwide success was something of a flop in its home country of China; perhaps it hit too close to home for those viewers who'd lived through the same years so painstakingly recreated in the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, (more)
A good example of the Hong Kong predilection for slapping together a film as a pastiche of successful elements from other films, this Cinema City production from director Po-Chih Leong credits five different screenwriters. Leslie Cheung stars as Chi Ken-wing (or "Chicken Wing" as he is sometimes referred to), who meets a beautiful and mysterious young woman named Cecilia (Cherie Chung). When Cecilia disappears, Wing does some digging and determines that she was probably a ghost. Of course, she really isn't a ghost at all, but merely playing dead in order to keep Wing from getting hurt by her violently jealous boyfriend, Sam (Melvin Wong). Naturally, Wing pursues her anyway and gets beaten up, but the two fall in love and begin seeing each other, leading Sam to pursue more drastic measures. Philip Kwok co-stars with Ann Bridgewater and David Wu. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Aimed squarely at the lowest common teenage denominator, this tale of three young men out for sex does not rise much beyond a junior-high, locker room humor. The aptly-named Piggy Chan (Leslie Chung) shares an apartment with two buddies and makes his living as a disc jockey. His favorite avocation is chasing women, but one day he falls for an 18-year-old while riding the bus. Inventive and persistent, he finally manages to end her age of innocence -- and then has no problem in going right back to his pursuit of other women, wherever they may be found. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mang Hoi
Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai directs the strange, intimate drama Cheun Gwong Tsa Sit (Happy Together). Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle employed multiple film speeds and different color film stock during the shooting. Ho (Leslie Cheung) and Lai (Tony Leung) are lovers from Hong Kong who have run away to live in Buenas Aires, Argentina. However, Ho is immature and unwilling to settle down, which makes Lai depressed. When they break up, Lai works as a doorman in a tango bar in order to save money and go home. The restless Ho becomes a prostitute. After Ho is beaten and injured in an attack, Lai takes him to his apartment to recover. Ho tries to rekindle the romance, but Lai isn't interested. He leaves the tango bar and works in a kitchen, where he meets the young Chang (Chang Chen) from Taiwan. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, (more)
A fan desperately desires to meet her idols in this gender-bending Hong Kong farce. The idols in question are singer Rose and her manager/lover Sam, who copes with his chronic ennui by playing along to Beatles records and dreaming of going to Africa. Wing is the rabid fan. To meet the popular duo, she binds her breasts, disguises herself as male, and heads out to audition during a talent search. The two are taken with the "young man's" abilities and decide to take him on. The trouble begins when Sam begins to feel a strange sexual attraction to Wing. Heretofore, Sam had thought of himself as purely heterosexual, but now he is not so sure. Romantic mayhem ensues until the mystery is finally solved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Visions of the dead haunt a young woman and the psychologist who falls for her in this romantic supernatural thriller from director Lo Chi-Leung. Though psychologist Jim believes that Yan's otherworldly visions have been brought upon by traumatic events in her past, he attempts to cure her and is soon deep in love with his troubled patient. As Jim's love grows ever stronger, Yan's visions fade, and it isn't long before the visions transfer into the horrified eyes of the caring doctor. Now haunted by the very same specters that plagued Yan, his memories of a girlfriend's suicide 20 years prior begin to surface. If the power of love was enough to drive away Yan's ghosts, will her love be enough to help Jim confront his dark past and vanquish the restless spirits? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Karena Lam, (more)
- 1981
Two brothers from an upper-class family (Danny Chan and Paul Chung) and their impoverished school chum (Leslie Chum, no pun intended), slowly discover their adult personas as they go through a series of love interests and adventures. One of the brothers is a budding musician, innocent of heart and mind, who meets a woman in the subway station and develops a relationship with her. The other brother is more tough-minded and yearns for a career in the corporate world. And the financially deprived classmate runs into one misfortune after the next, as he is dragged down into the world of drugs and drug dealers -- and various erotic encounters along the way to the bottom. Eventually, the three friends strengthen their bonds, and in the end, there may be some hope for all of them, as they each have a tighter grasp on reality -- maybe any grasp at all on reality -- to see them through the next stage in their adventures. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Chan, Leslie Cheung, (more)
- 1986
Pop star Leslie Cheung stars in this maudlin melodrama as Louie, a spoiled pop star, who, at the film's outset, sleeps with beautiful dancer Anita (Anita Mui Yim-fong). The next morning, Anita tells Louie of her dream of becoming a singer. That night, Louie invites Anita on-stage and soon a star is born. Though clearly Anita has fallen hard for him, Louie is more interested in the leggy Julia (Joey Wang Tsu-hsien). When he learns that the eye of his apple is dating his dad, Louie cancels his concert and flees the country for Paris. There he shacks up with comely Vietnamese refugee Yuan Yu-shih (Cecilia Yip Tong), who suffers from a mysterious war wound. Though working happily as a restaurant dishwasher with his new love, Louie soon finds his previous life calling him back when Anita pays him a visit. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Anita Miu, (more)
