Joyce Chan Movies
- 2012
- R
Infernal Affairs co-director Andrew Lau takes the helm for this remake of the Shaw Brothers classic Master of the Flying Guillotine set during the fall of the Qing Dynasty, when a group of clandestine assassins are repurposed for a malevolent new cause. When Emperor Yong Zheng rules the land, he maintained his strength through the power of the Guillotines, an elite team of assassins tasked with eliminating all opposition. Though the Guillotines are deemed disposable when Emperor Qian Long comes into power, the new ruler attempts to consolidate his might by unleashing the gang of killers on the defeated Han Chinese, leading to a violent power struggle between the oppressed masses, and the malevolent monarch. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2011
A crime-fighting couple retires to a secluded Chinese village to enjoy the quiet life, and find the flame of passion growing dim until a martial arts contest comes to town in this high-flying action comedy. Once upon a time, Gazer Warrior (Louis Koo) and Aroma Woman (Sandra Ng) used their super-powered senses to clean up the streets. But these days, all the heroic couple wants is a little peace and quiet. Retreating to a quaint feudal village, they soon settle into a comfortable routine that has a deadening effect on Gazer's sex drive. Just when it begins to look as if the once-happy couple will never be intimate again, a fighting competition comes to town and Gazer catches a glimpse of pretty fan Phoenix Bleu (Li Qin).When Aroma sees a familiar sparkle in her husband's eyes, she realizes the time has come to inject some excitement into their retirement, and reawaken his dormant libido. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
A papermaker living during the later days of the Qing Dynasty finds his village under threat following an intense investigation. Liu (Donnie Yen) is a family man from a small secluded village. He lives a quiet life with his wife Ayu (Tang Wei) and their two young children. But Liu's simple existence begins to unravel following the arrival of Detective Xu (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Dispatched to gather details about a botched robbery in which two bandits were killed, Detective Xu quickly discovers that Liu has been harboring some troubling secrets about his background. Later, as the ghosts of Liu's past begin to manifest, a dark cloud is cast over the entire village. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, (more)
A man is determined to stand up for his country despite the challenges of deadly adversaries in this action drama from director Teddy Chen. It's 1906, and as China begins to turn its back on the outside world and makes new demands of its people, a growing number of Chinese citizens are calling for democracy. The possibility of revolution does not sit well with Chinese authorities, and Sun Yat-sen (Hanyu Zhang), an popular activist calling for reform in China, has been forced to seek exile in nearby Hong Kong to protect himself. Sun Yat-sen is hardly the only freedom-loving Chinese patriot living in Hong Kong, and when he's invited to take part in secret talks about the future of the nation, he and his fellow exiles are put into a tight spot. Chinese authorities want to silence Sun Yat-sen by assassination, and military commander Yan Xiaoguo (Hu Jun), his lieutenant Sa Zhenchan (Cung Le) and a regiment of soldiers skilled in martial arts are dispatched to find the underground leader and put him to this death. Now the Chinese expatriate community in Hong King must take sides -- do they ignore the crisis, or stand up to protect Sun Yat-sen in his moment of need? Among those who must decide where they stand are Chen Xiaobai (Tony Leung Ka-fai), an activist and journalist; Chen's financial backer Li Yuetang (Wang Xueqi); his teenage son Li Chungguang (Wang Bo-chieh); Yuet-yu (Fan Bingbing), Li Yuetang's "kept woman;" and Sum Chung-yang (Donnie Yen), her former husband. Shiyue Weicheng (aka Assassins and Bodyguards) was an official selection at the 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 1994
This dramatic film compares and contrasts Chinese and American cultures. It is based upon real events which took place in New York during the mid-'80s when a deranged white male pushed a Hong Kong immigrant off a subway platform. The movie begins in modern Hong Kong and follows the life of Mo-yung, a middle class single woman. In order to get her out of Hong Kong before the Chinese take over the colony in 1997, her parents arrange for her to marry a Canadian man. But Mo-yung demurs and instead follows Benny, a hip, but shady photographer, to New York. Benny is doing more than taking pictures and frequently shuttles between Hong Kong and New York. Her involvement with Benny gets Mo-yung into real trouble. While in New York, Mo-yung meets Rubie, a half white woman who is being followed by a crazy Caucasian schoolteacher with an obsession for Asian women. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anita Yuen, Simon Yam, (more)
- 1982
Ma (Tong Chung-yip) works as a taxi driver, as a collector for his father whose business is high-interest loans, and in his spare time, as a lifeguard. In that last role, he meets Kathy (Pat Ha), a wealthy woman, and romance blossoms. Meanwhile, Kathy's friend Louis (Leslie Chung) is also at the beach a lot and he meets a woman with the unlikely name of Tomato (Cecilia), and they develop a relationship. The two couples have various sexual encounters, and then some dastardly assassins from Japan arrive to snuff out Kathy because she has spurned the son of a major gangster. The sex and the violence are intended to make Hong Kong's beaches all that hotter, but the final judgment will have to rest with the viewers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung
- 1981
Joy is a student from Hong Kong living with eight other roommates in San Francisco, all of them in college together. Her health starts deteriorating because she hears noises in her head, noises that eventually cause her to try to kill herself. After that attempt, her roommate Ivy telephones Joy's brother in Hong Kong and asks him to come quickly to see after his sister. He arrives and a mutual attraction sparks between himself and Ivy. Joy finally does kill herself, and as the brother leaves for Hong Kong, he vows to come back and marry Ivy. What Ivy does not know is that he is just as sick as Joy was, only the disease manifests in him as the urge to kill. When he returns to San Francisco, he murders all of the remaining roommates in bloody awful ways until Ivy takes matters into her own hands. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chang Kuo-Shu
- 1980
Originally titled Zhuang Dao Zheng, the mildly satiric The Spooky Bunch takes place in the Chinese city of Cheung Chau. A Cantonese opera company arrives to present a show for the benefit of a wealthy and influentual patriarch. Both the actors and their benefactor are plagued by pesky theatrical ghosts, led by a female spirit whose name cannot be repeated in polite company (it has something to do with feline feces). One of the actresses, Josephine Siao, discovers that the ghosts are seeking vengeance for crimes committed by the patriarch's ancestors. Written with tongue comfortably in cheek by Joyce Chan, The Spooky Bunch received its first non-Chinese showing at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1979
Inspector Chow had the effrontery to put the mobster and drug kingpin Lau in prison. While in prison, Lau plots his revenge. The first part of it requires that he have Inspector Chow murdered. The second part requires that he make a big splash in the criminal world by stealing an Italian diamond shipment. He sets his scheme underway, recruiting a corruptible cop, Pang, by tricking him into running up a huge gambling debt. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chu Kong, Chan Wai-Man, (more)
- 1979
Harbinger of a new wave in Hong Kong cinema and one of director Ann Hui's best films, The Secret capitalizes on symbols in Chinese culture referring to birth, marriage and death and sets a definite mood of mystery and foreboding from the beginning. A kind of psychological horror-thriller, the story is based on an actual incident in 1970. Some school children come across the battered bodies of a young man and woman, tied to a tree. Their faces have been smashed in, and their clothes are torn. It turns out that the man (Man Chi-leung) was a medical student in the university. As the story unfolds, the mystery and mood rather outweigh the terrible "secret" connected to the murders. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sylvia Chiang, Chiu Ah Chi, (more)
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