Li Kuo-hsing Movies
- 2008
Up and coming Pye-Dog director Derek Kwok follows-up his award-winning feature directorial debut with this Wilson Yip-scripted crime drama following the search for an adolescent boy through the crime-riddled streets of Hong Kong. Fatty has gone missing, and should Cheung (Shawn Yue) fail to locate the obese boy in short order, his vengeful mother Big Sister (Susan Shaw) is sure to have his head. The last place Fatty was known to have been was in Four-Eyed Tong's district, engaging in vigorous sex with a neighborhood hooker. Later, as undercover cop Cheung meets with Four-Eyed Tong to assess the situation, the Sum Sui Po district is about to explode. The players in this deadly game are Cheung, a young prostitute named Lulu, thirteen year old prostitute-in-training Fa, Four-Eyed Tong, and ruthless assassin Lo (Story of Ricky star Louis Fan). But who is Lo working for, and how does Cheung's frequent use of escort services factor into the equation? As the search for Fatty intensifies, the violence in the neighborhood escalates, soon threatening to consume everyone involved. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Two very different men vie for the affection of a beautiful and powerful woman in this historical epic from Hong Kong. During the Era of the Warring States, two rival kingdoms are fighting for control of China, the Yan and the Zhao. Muyong Xuehu (Donnie Yen) is leader of the Yan armies and guides his forces to victory, but not before the Yan emperor is murdered. Muyong is declared the new emperor of the Yan territories, angering Wu Ba (Guo Xiaodong), the late leader's nephew who killed his uncle in hopes of taking the throne. There is much public discord over Muyong's appointment, so he names as his second in command Yan Fei'er (Kelly Chen), the late king's beautiful daughter and only child. Muyong is in love with Yan Fei'er and wants to protect her, but she's a brave and headstrong woman, unafraid to put herself in the heat of battle. When a would-be killer attempts to murder Yan Fei'er, she's rescued by an unlikely benefactor, Duan Lanquan (Leon Lai), an aspiring inventor who loves in the woods. Yan Fei'er falls for the clever Duan, who has invented a machine that can fly, and when she learns that the Yan kingdom is once again under attack, she must choose between her two lovers as she returns to her people's battle for freedom. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donnie Yen, Kelly Chen, (more)
- 2008
Love and loyalty tears apart a circle of high school friends in this coming of age drama from Taiwan set in the late 1990's. Cheng Hsi-yen (Rhydian Vaughan) is a Big Man on Campus and the star hitter on his school's baseball team, and he's the unofficial but unquestioned leader of his circle of friends. Hsi-yen is dating a pretty girl named Hsiao Yun (Jennifer Chu) who adores him, and has befriended Hsiao Tang (Chang Cheh), a quiet, studious boy who looks up to the slugger. But Hsi-yen's status at the school takes a tumble when he begins seeing another girl on the side; her boyfriend somehow mistakes Tang for Hsi-yen and gives him a serious beating, while Hsi-yen fails to come to his aid. Hsi-yen's failure to stand by his friend and his dalliance with another girl infuriates Yun, and she writes him a letter telling him that they're though. Yun gives the letter to Tang and asks him to deliver it to his former friend; however, Tang is secretly in love with her, and rather than deliver the note he tries to find a way to win her over. A motorcycle crash sends Hsi-yen to the hospital, and the disillusioned students become increasingly bitter when a scandal sweeps through Taiwan's professional baseball leagues. Jiu jiang feng (aka Winds of September) was the first feature film from writer and director Tom Lin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rhydian Vaughan, Chang Cheh, (more)
- 2007
Innocent eyes mask mysterious intentions in this drama about an introverted criminal tasked with kidnapping the son of his gang leader's reviled nemesis. As a young orphan, Dui resorted to gadgetry and improvised self-defense mechanisms in order to defend himself from his bullying peers. The closest thing Dui ever had to a father was a shady, mid-level crook who taught him how to use his skills for nefarious means, in the process providing the awkward adolescent with all the tools needed to grow into a career criminal. Years later, Dui has learned to hide his spark behind a stony face and glassy eyes. Provided with a name and photograph by his mentor, Dui takes a job as an elementary school teacher in order to get closer to his target: the twelve year old son of a powerful gangster. For what it's worth, Wang too may as well be an orphan; his father has vanished without a trace and his mother committed suicide, leaving the mute schoolboy to live alone with his elderly grandmother. At first Dui doesn't realize that Wang is his target, and begins to form a strong bond with the boy as his feelings are stirred by the affections of shy teacher Miss Cheung. Just as exciting new possibilities begin to unfold for all three, however, dark plans begin to unfold and unexpected twists arise. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eason Chan, Gia Lin, (more)
Sammo Hung, Michael Biehn, Maggie Q, and Shawn Yue star in this action-packed thriller concerning a disappeared crime lord and the elite team of Interpol agents who set out to recapture him at all costs. A notorious Triad crime boss has disappeared just as his case was about to go before the judge, and now he could be anywhere. Now, on the bustling streets of Hong Kong, a highly skilled team of Interpol agents wage all out war against the underworld in an apocalyptic bid to capture the heavily armed foe and ensure that justice is properly served. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1970s -- in which urban intellectuals were relocated either by choice or through force to rural areas in the interest of educating the poor or aiding farm labor -- provides the backdrop for this romantic drama from filmmaker Lu Yue. Ye Xingyu (Shu Qi) is an idealistic young woman who lives in the Yunnan province, where she teaches language classes and is pledged to marry Yuan Dingguo (Fang Bin), who works on a rubber plantation. Xingyu's father is seriously ill, and she wants to move to Kunming to be with him, but getting permission from local and federal authorities proves all but impossible. One day, Xingyu meets Liu Simeng (Liu Hua), who has moved from Beijing to Yunnan to work in an educational program. While Xingyu is initially put off by Simeng's big-city ways, she comes to admire his sincere dedication to duty, and he is clearly infatuated with her. But a scuffle between locals and Simeng's fellow transplants from Beijing leads to a simmering rivalry, which comes to a boil when Dingguo becomes fiercely jealous of Xingyu's blossoming friendship with Simeng. Meiren Cao was written for the screen in part by Shi Xiaoke, whose novel Chulian provided the basis for the story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liu Ye
Johnny To's police drama PTU details the ramifications of an officer losing his weapon. Seargant Lo (Lam Suet), head of the police anti-crime division, finds his gun missing after an altercation with a gang. Police Tactical Unit (PTU) team leader Mike Ho (Simon Yam), not wanting to get the soon-to-be-promoted Lo in hot water, gives him some time to recover the firearm. While Li and Mike attempt to find the gun before the gang kills anyone with it, police investigators suspect that there may be corruption within the PTU. To filmed the picture off-and-on for over two years before it played at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Desperate to keep her job as a proposal for her dismissal is making the rounds, Fong (Miriam Yeung) deliberately lies to her new boss Wu (Edison Chan) and tells him that she is pregnant. Having come from a single-parent home, sympathetic Wu rejects the proposal and Fong seems to be in the clear for the time being. Her relief is short lived however, when office gossip soon begins to fuel speculation as to the identity of the father. With some help from her best friend Ken (Wyman Wong), Fong begins to learn everything there is about pregnancy, but when the time comes to actually give birth, how will Fong handle the true outcome of her deceit? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Yeung, Edison Chen, (more)
- 2002
Soi Cheang's horror film Hunbo Yitsin Chi Dai Tau Gwai Ying (Horror Hotline...Big Head Monster) stars Francis Ng as the producer of a radio program that involves people sharing ghost stories. Ben (Ng) airs a call about a mutant killer baby. Intrigued by the story, he teams up with a reporter (Josie Ho) to investigate. He finds a person involved in the story on the verge of death, while Ben's nurse girlfriend, Helen (Niki Chow), is treating a man who has been attacked by the monster. Helen has a secret she has been keeping from Ben. This secret may have something to do with the monster. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Ng, Josie Ho, (more)
- 2001
A cop near the end of his career joins forces with a 16-year-old girl to find his missing granddaughter in this action-packed drama with comic overtones. Wu (Law Lit) is a veteran Hong Kong police detective who finds himself taking on a case with a personal impact when his teenage granddaughter Cho disappears and he's assigned to investigate. Wu contacts P (Zeny Kwok), Cho's best friend, who claims the missing girl borrowed a large amount of money from her before she went missing. Wu is a by-the-books cop, while P is all adolescent attitude, and at first they mix about as well as oil and water, but a grudging respect begins to grow between them as they set aside their differences in hopes of finding Cho. Before long, Wu and P are joined in their search by Tofu (Chui Tienyou), P's significant other. Law Lit starred in a number of martial arts pictures in the 1970s under the name Lo Lieh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Chiu directs this quiet romance that recalls the gentle style of Francois Truffaut. Young and attractive Mandy (Yo Yo Mung) flees the hustle of Hong Kong proper and a failed relationship for the bucolic quiet of Peng Chau, one of several dozen communities located on the former colony's outlying islands. There she stays in a rooming house with the mute and slightly slow Kam Shui (Louis Koo). In spite of herself, she falls for the misfit, much to the consternation of Angel (Siu Au), Kam Shui's tomboyish best friend who also harbors feelings for him. Chiu masterfully brings out the nuances of life on the island in this simple tale, simply told. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yo Yo Mung, Louis Koo, (more)
One of Hong Kong's brightest young directors, Winston Yip, whose previous work, Mongkok Story, received a 1996 Hong Kong critics' prize, returns to the screen with this character-driven reworking of the gangster genre. Mike (Francis Ng) and his younger partner Brian (Louis Koo) are plainclothed policemen hot on the trail of a violent band of bank robbers. Their search leads them to a grotty old Hong Kong tenement. Expecting a long surveillance, the pair hole up in the apartment of the building's owner, an old woman called Granny (Helena Law), who is alternately gruff and kind toward them. While there, they get to know some of the locals and eventually fall in love -- Mike with a beautiful pregnant single mom who runs a laundromat (played by 1991 Miss Malaysia Stephanie Lin) and Brian with a teenaged slacker (Michelle Alicia Saram). Just as the two get comfortable in their new surroundings, the crooks make their inevitable return, resulting in gunplay and stylized over-the-top violence. This film was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Ng
Master Hong Kong director Ringo Lam spins this wild genre-bending flick that is equal parts psychodrama, action thriller, caper movie, and ghost story. The film opens with computer designer Ma (Lau Ching-wan) getting kidnapped in a parking structure. His girlfriend Amy Fu (Amy Kwok) informs the police that though he had been jobless for a while and had a lot of debt, he was basically a good egg. Police detective Pit (Tony Leung Kar-wai) soon discovers Ma beaten, bloodied, and dangling upside down from the ceiling of an old abandoned hotel -- one that has been notoriously haunted since the murder-suicide of the owner and his feckless wife. Ma subsequently starts terrifying Amy by behaving like the famous ghost of the hotel. The police, however, suspect that Ma's possession might be a ruse to shield some larger and more nefarious crime. Due to a creative dispute that Lam had with producer Joe Ma, there are two different endings to this film. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lau Ching-Wan, Amy Kwok, (more)
After his Hollywood debut (Maximum Risk), Hong Kong director Ringo Lam returned to his homeland for the 34-day shoot of this $13 million action pic. After cops find a corpse and bomb chemicals, Inspector Pao (Lau Ching-wan) arrests suspect Mak Kwan (Francis Ng), hoping his girlfriend will lead them to his Taiwan gang, but Mak makes an escape and the girlfriend makes off for Macao. Pao figures that the gang will go for the $230 million at the Hong Kong Jockey club. Shown at 1997 film festivals (Rotterdam, Berlin). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lau Ching-Wan, Francis Ng, (more)
