Shu Kei Movies

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

Unusual for its straightforward handling of gay themes and homophobia, this commercially-oriented Hong Kong comedy-drama chronicles the upcoming wedding of marriage counselor Law Kar-Sing. But Law is gay and the thought of marrying Chuen, to whom he has been informally betrothed for many years, strikes him as pointless. This does not stop his parents from continuing to pressure him. Chuen too is becoming more aggressive with her demands. But marriage is only a part of Law's problems. Other pressures come from his career, his secret lover Sonny, and an aunt with a few secrets of her own. There is also Law's friend professor Kim who is dying of AIDS. Kim's family does not want his long-time lover to attend the funeral for fear of public scandal. This prompts Sonny to take a radical stance and only makes matters worse. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Chen Kaige, the director of the international smash Farewell My Concubine, reunited that film's stars, Gong Li and Leslie Cheung, for this complexly layered, visually spectacular historical epic. Opening in 1911, shortly before the collapse of the Imperial government, Temptress Moon follows the wealthy and powerful Pang Family, whose patriarch is hopelessly addicted to opium, which he calls "the source of all inspiration." Zhengda (Zhou Yemang), Old Master Pang's oldest son, has married a woman named Xiuyi (He Saifei), and her younger brother Zhongliang is brought to live with the Pangs, where he earns his keep as a servant. Zhengda shares his father's dependence on opium, and Zhongliang's responsibilities include minding their pipes; Zhengda also forces Zhongliang to kiss Xiuyi in a shadowy incident that suggests an incestuous relationship. In time, Zhongliang grows to adulthood (now played by Leslie Cheung) and flees the Pang estate; he travels to Shanghai, where he becomes a gigolo, seducing women and stealing their valuables. After Old Master Pang dies and Zhengda's addiction to drugs renders him brain damaged, his sister Ruyi (Gong Li), who had been Zhongliang's playmate in childhood, is proclaimed the head of the household. Knowing of his connection to the Pang Family and long-ago friendship with Ruyi, Zhongliang is ordered by his bosses in the Shanghai underworld to return to the Pang estate, where he is to seduce her, gain control of the family's fortune, and then steal it from her. Like Farewell My Concubine, Temptress Moon proved to be controversial in its native China, due to its frank but unsensational depiction of sex and drug use. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This award winning Chinese drama examines the actions of a shy and quiet misanthrope who slyly begins meddling in others' lives. The film is set within an aging apartment block in Beijing. Xiao Dou has been cared for by his sister since their parents died many years ago. Anxious to begin living her own life, his married sister tries to find a match for Xiao Dou. She has yet to succeed. Xiao Dou works for the Post Office as a letter box installer. He is reassigned to delivering mail in the Happiness District mail after the former mailman was caught reading the letters he was supposed to deliver. Intrigued by that, and by the games played by the postal clerk Yun Qing who tries to discover the contents of letters, Xiao Dou begins to secretly open the mail. This leads him to get involved in the dramas of people's lives. For example, when a boy commits suicide, Xiao Dou delays sending the letter to his parents who patiently wait to hear from their son. Xiao Dou's most difficult drama involves the relationship between to homosexual drug addicts. All of their lives forever change when the postman gets directly involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The year 1989 witnessed a widespread movement for democracy in mainland China, and also witnessed its brutal suppression in the Tien An Min Square Massacre, as the horrified world watched these events on television. This documentary interviews China's exiled intellectuals and freedom fighters at sites all over the world, as they assess their nation's prospects for the future. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Hui So-Ying plays the title role in the Hong Kong-filmed Ah Ying. A 22-year-old girl living with her seven siblings, Ah Ying is desirous of escaping her middle-class existence (not to mention her family's fish market). Inspired to pursue her dreams by the songs of American balladeer Jim Croce, Ah Ying enrolls at the Film Culture Center of Hong Kong to take acting lessons. Here she falls in love with her instructor, who is likewise seeking a means to break loose from his routine and become famous. Director Allen Fong based the scenario for Ah Ying on the actual experiences of star Hui So-Ying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bits and pieces of a rootless night are never fully brought together as a group of four young men and two women meet in a disco and then on leaving, get into trouble. Their names (King Kong, The Kid, Peter Pan), their attitudes, and their hip clothing reveal heavy-duty borrowings from Europe and the U.S. As the group slowly coalesces at the disco they decide to leave, and then circumstances lead to something disastrous -- they rob a gas station. While the robbery is in progress the attendant is killed and the six run away in a stolen car, looking for a place to hide from the police. The meaningless end to their night out, and its violence, are a part of a larger package that raises questions about Hong Kong and its future. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide