Carina Liu Movies
Hou Hsiao-hsien (Goodbye South, Goodbye) directed this Taiwanese-Japanese period drama set in the British section brothels of 19th-century Shanghai. Chu Tien-wen's screenplay was adapted from Han Ziyun's 1894 novel Haishang Huia Liezhuang (Biographies of Flowers of Shanghai), translated from the original dialect to Mandarin during the '30s by Shanghai writer Eileen Chang. Around 1884, during the closing years of Imperial China, Crimson (Japanese actress Michiko Hada) worries that she's about to be dropped by civil servant Wang (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), since he's spending so much time with Jasmin (Wei Hsiao-hui). Emotions escalate when word arrives that Wang will relocate to another post in the Canton province. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Michiko Hada, (more)
- 1997
Jacob Cheung directed this $1.5 million Hong Kong lesbian drama. Shot in China, the film was first shown in Hong Kong in a two-hour version, but a longer version, the director's cut, runs 158 minutes. In 1990s San Francisco, designer Wai (Theresa Lee) has friction with her boyfriend Wah (Winston Chau). Wai moves her father's former servant, aged Auntie Foon (Gua Ah-leh), into her apartment, later taking her to China to reside at a Guangzhou (Canton) retirement home. During the trip, the older woman experiences flashbacks to the '30s and '40s, a time of bittersweet memories when Japanese bombs separated her from her lover. These flashbacks follow the young Foon (Charlie Young), who ignores her parents' wishes and joins the Comb Women sisterhood, the women of southern China's Pearl River delta who "combed their own hair" (meaning they chose chastity over marriage). Foon is working at a spinning factory when she's seen by Wan (Carina Liu), wife number eight of silk-merchant Siu Tung (Tung Wei). Wan hires Foon as a maid and becomes jealous when Foon is attracted to fisherman Hung Ngau (Chin Karlok). Foon is stunned when Wan confesses her love for Foon, but the women finally become a couple after Hung Ngau rejects Foon. Amidst Japanese bombing raids, as Siu Tung tries to get Wan to safety, tragedy erupts, as the story continues to dissolve back and forth between past and present. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carina Liu, Charlie Yeung, (more)
Following up on his wildly popular gender bending comedy He's a Woman, She's a Man, Peter Chan Ho-sun picks up immediately where the original left off. Chi-wing (Anita Yuen Wing-yee) -- a young lass who dressed like a man to grab the attention of songwriter Sam (Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing) -- has attained fame as a male pop singer and the undying love of Sam, who had a little trouble with his attraction to Chi-wing until he learned she was she. Their life seems perfect until Chi-wing wins a major award for best new male singer. While at the podium, she gushes "Sam, I love you" which fuels all sorts of rumors that Sam and Chi-wing are gay lovers. Meanwhile, androgynous pop star Yim-mui (played by androgynous pop star Anita Mui Yim-fong) returns to Canto-pop scene after a ten year absence and inserts herself into the lives of both Sam and Chi-wing. Soon, Chi-wing finds herself attracted to the charismatic star. ~ Jonathan Crow, 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)
- 1994
Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Yee's highly lauded and sentimental tearjerker swept the 1993 Hong Kong Film Awards and was warmly embraced by audiences due to its well-developed characters and exceptional performances. Anita Yuen stands out as Min, an ebullient young woman who came from a street-singing family and now lives in a broken-down apartment house. Her upstairs neighbor is Kit (Lau Ching-wan), an aspiring songwriter who has just broken up with his fiancée, a successful singer (Carina Lau). Kit knows that his perky downstairs neighbor has the charisma and talent necessary to become a star herself; he is re-energized by the prospect of shepherding her career and begins falling in love with her. Unfortunately, Min's childhood bone cancer -- which had been in complete remission for a decade -- returns and she soon finds her declining health sapping most of her excitement for both life and her career. Kit devotes himself entirely to getting Min back on her feet, setting the stage for the obligatory weepy denouement. Despite its "Disease of the Week" story line, Yee (who also wrote the screenplay) never allows his film to become trite or maudlin, and his strong cast (notably Yuen and Lau, Hong Kong's Best Actress and Actor winners of 1993 for their performances) never overplay the material. Paul Chun and Petrina Fung took home awards in the supporting categories, ably backed up by Carrie Ng, Sylvia Chang, and Jamie Luk. Herman Yau appears in a cameo. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Lau, Carina Liu, (more)
Ku's children have moved to the United States while he remained behind in Shanghai. He is a vigorous sixty-year-old man, with a much younger roommate and an amusingly consistent series of quarrels with one of his neighbors. Basically, everything is serene and tranquil. However, his children have chosen to send their American-born son to stay with him while they take a tour of Europe. At first, it is difficult for everyone to adjust: the boy has a hard time with outdoor toilets, shared bedrooms, and communist-style classroom lessons, and not long after arriving he runs away for a while. He soon returns, and before long he is teaching the neighborhood kids how to play basketball and conduct an aerobic workout. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carina Liu
- 1992
David Lai and Corey Yuen spins this unusual -- for Hong Kong cinema -- sci-fi flick inspired in part by Japanese manga. Set in the near future, notorious assassin Silver Fox (Aaron Kwok) is out to avenge his master who was blinded by cop May-chun (Anita Mui). Fox's first attempt manages to kill May's underling Koo, but she herself manages to escape while partially blinding Fox along the way. May-chun goes into hiding leaving her duties to Ching-lan (Andy Lau), who is utterly in love with her. When Ching-lan decides to seek her out, he inadvertently angers the fearsome Pet Lady (Carina Lau). When he does find her, he learns that she has been poisoned by Silver Fox. He takes May-chuan to Pet Lady hoping for a cure. Yet she spurns him, refusing to help even though he crawled through broken glass at her request. All seems lost when Silver Fox attacks once more. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Taylor Wong delivers this gangster saga about brotherhoood and betrayal. Bumptious, ill-tempered Yung (Man Chi-leung) has run up a huge gambling debt is about to get his finger loped off for non-payment until his more levelheaded brother, Kwok (Andy Lau), intercedes. When Yung's troubles become too great for even Kwok to handle, they turn to Chai (Chow Yun-fat), a big-time gangster who hires the two to aid with his business ventures. Enthusiastic and dependable, Kwok quickly becomes Chai's right-hand man, much to Yung's displeasure. When a Thai drug lord stops shipment to Chai, underworld tensions build. Eventually Yung shows his true self and joins the other side, setting the stage for bloody gangland violence. This film is followed up by Tragic Hero. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat, Man Chi Leung, (more)
