Simon Yam Movies

Herman Yau spins this low-budget erotic thriller featuring the softcore screen debut of pop idol Irene Wan. The film opens with a naked woman plunging to her death off of a high-rise -- a seeming suicide. Her husband Tsui Chin-tung (Simon Yam) is unconvinced and sets out to seek vengeance against sleazy businessman Lam Kwok-chui (Alfred Cheung) whom his wife was having an affair with. Though only planning to beat the guy up, he ends up abducting his beautiful wife Ho-yee (Wan) along with his kid. When his crime threatens to be undone by a greedy neighbor, Tsui releases his hostages after Lam reluctantly pays only part of the ransom. Upset and suspicious that her husband tries to haggle for her freedom, Ho-yee returns to Tsui to engage in noisy lovemaking and to plot against her evil husband. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Clarence Fok Yiu-leung spins this slick action-comedy crime flick featuring an all-star cast. The film centers on Black Cougar (Alan Tang Kwong-wing), a crack thief who gets the job of a lifetime -- a shadowy client is paying him an obscene amount of money to swipe a photograph from a police station. Alan enlists the help of cabal of master criminals including a sexpot weapons specialist named Ching-ching (Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia), a gambling maven (Tony Leung Kar-fai) and an infantile computer geek (Dicky Cheung Wai-kin) who goes berserk if he doesn't have a pacifier to suck on. The group quickly learns that the whole thing is a set up by Black Cougar's evil brother Bloody Wolf (Wah Yuen). While Black Cougar gets captured by a band of villains, the rest of the team is forced to fend off the baddies. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Hong Kong filmmaker Danny Ko continued in the vein of his popular thriller The Crucifixion with this serial-killer film about a maniacal motorcyclist in black leather murdering young women walking alone on Friday nights. The Friday Killer, as he becomes known, even murders an undercover officer as part of his bloody spree. The dead woman's policeman boyfriend Lau (Au Kam-tong) blames Ko (Simon Yam), the leader of the investigation, for mishandling the sting operation and causing his girlfriend's death. Lau attacks Ko and is suspended from the force for a month, but more pressing issues dog Ko as he receives threatening calls from the Friday Killer promising to kill Maggie (Loletta Lee), a prostitute who managed to escape from him, and several other girls during the next month. Structured like a 1970s Italian giallo thriller, Bloody Friday plays up its mystery elements at the expense of narrative cohesion, leading to a typically silly conclusion. Nonetheless, it boasts some engaging performances, notably by Lee as the ditzy hooker Maggie, and the scenes involving the black-clad psycho cyclist are effectively staged. Ada Choi co-stars with Elvis Tsui, Emily Kwan, and Bobby Yip. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Following up on his 1989 masterpiece The Killer, superstar action director John Woo directs this emotionally wrenching look at three friends waylaid in war-torn Vietnam. Set in 1967, when clashes between leftists protesting British rule and the police were tearing the colony apart, the film opens with Frank (Jacky Cheung Hok-yau) offering the deed to his parents' home as collateral to a loan shark, so that he can pay for his buddy Ben's (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) wedding party. Unfortunately, Frank is ambushed by a thug named Ringo and his associates who make off with the money. Ben and Frank vow revenge and end up accidentally killing the guy. Wanted by both the law and the triads, Frank, Ben, and their pal Paul (Waise Lee Chi-hung) head for Vietnam with a case of fake Rolexes and dreams of making a quick buck. Immediately upon arrival, those dreams are dashed -- their wares are blown up in a tin-can military coup, they are almost shot by the South Vietnamese army, and their passports are seized. Though tempted to throw in the towel, Frank and Ben are convinced by Paul into joining forces with shady hit man named Luke (Simon Yam Tat-wah) to shake down club owner Leong (Lam Chung). The scheme goes horribly wrong, ending with the death of a beautiful drug-addled singer named Sally (Yolinda Yan Chi-sin) and our three heroes accused of being CIA agents in a North Vietnamese POW camp. Later, though, Frank saves Paul's live and get injured in the process, Paul can only think of financial gain and saving his own neck. He shoots Frank in the head when he fears his friend's cries of agony will tip off the Vietcong. Unfortunately, the bullet doesn't kill Frank, leaving him brain damaged, drug-addled, and in chronic pain. After Ben learns of Frank's condition, he confronts Paul who has since returned to Hong Kong to become a prominent businessman. John Woo was originally planning to make this film under the name A Better Tomorrow 3 until Tsui Hark took the franchise away from him, fashioning his own version. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The Asian crime drama Casino takes place during the sweltering Macau summer of 1991. Two rival gangs are engaged in a bloody battle over control of the region's gambling business. Winnie Fong, a reporter, gets an interview with Giant, one of the two local crime lords. As Fong grills Giant about his life, Giant surprisingly reveals much more than he intended to -- and the consequences may have a great impact on the gang war. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

Popular Hong Kong actor Simon Yam, who had previously portrayed serial killer Lam Guo-wen in a television miniseries, plays his fictionalized counterpart in this gore-soaked exploitation film from producer-director Danny Lee. Starting with Lam's difficult childhood, the story then moves forward to the police capture of Lam after he submits film containing images of a naked woman who appears to be dead to a photo developing lab. The police tactics are quite brutal, but despite beating Lam repeatedly, they are unable to extract a confession until they show his family some explicit photographs he took of his young niece. His confessions are then graphically played out for the remaining hour, with all the sex, blood, and violence which Lee (who also plays Police Inspector Lee here) could fit in, as the catalog of Lam's atrocities is exhibited with an enthusiasm bordering on the voyeuristic. He was working nights as a taxi driver, and used his position to farm female victims from the city's streets on rainy nights, indulging in a penchant for necrophilia, cannibalism, and the photography of the women's dismembered bodies as a souvenir of his activities. The film's success led to a number of so-called "True Crime" films in Hong Kong, mostly following the conventions laid out in Dr. Lamb, although few approach its visceral and graphic violence. Kent Cheng co-stars with Lau Siu-ming and Emily Kwan. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Hong Kong filmmaker Lau Kar-leung followed up the outstanding Drunken Master II by directing this mostly unrelated martial arts comedy which still manages to garner a few laughs despite its dubious reputation and the absence of Jackie Chan. In Chan's place is comedian Willie Chi as Wong Fei-hong, who is assigned -- along with his partner, Wong Kei-ying (Adam Cheng) -- to protect a Manchu princess named Sum Yu (Michelle Lee). Princess Yu is being hunted both by the malefic White Lotus Cult (actually run by white people in this spoof) and by nationalists loyal to Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Fei-hong receives additional help from a wine merchant, Uncle Yan (played by the film's director), who instructs him in special martial arts techniques. Unfortunately, the Manchu leaders fall in with the White Lotus Cult and relinquish Princess Yu to them to be ritually sacrificed, causing Fei-hong to undertake a daring rescue mission. Simon Yam appears as a gay villain aboard a bus, and the supporting cast also includes such familiar genre veterans as Andy Lau, Gordon Lau, and William Ho. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Johnny To returns to the characters of his international success The Mission (aka Chueng Fo) with this action-packed thriller. It's 1998, and the Portuguese colony of Macau, a city along the Southern coast of China, is about to be handed over to Chinese authorities under a long-standing agreement. As the people of Macau ponder how their new leaders will deal with the criminal underground that's long been part of the city's support system, a pair of hit men from Hong Kong arrive in town to execute a gangster who has turned his back on the syndicate to make a new life for his wife and children. While the Chinese syndicate want to be sure he doesn't share anything he learned while in their employ, two strong-arm men also arrive in Macau, determined to see to the former gangster's safety. Starring Nick Cheung, Simon Yam and Francis Ng, Exiled received its world premiere at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Longtime screenwriter Yau Nai-hoi makes his feature directorial debut with this tale of a Hong Kong surveillance unit ensnared by underworld violence. In the aftermath of a daring daytime jewelry store heist, criminal mastermind Shan (Tony Leung) and his crew celebrate their success with a rooftop barbecue. The good times are quickly cut short, however, when Shan's men summon the wrath of their boss by attempting to muscle him into giving up a bigger cut. But Shan's men aren't the only ones who want a heartier piece of the pie, because it seems as if the boss himself is scheming to take the men at the top for all they're worth. In order to do so, Shan executes a second high-profile robbery that finds him doggedly pursued though the streets by determined cops. In order to catch the elusive criminals the police will have to work harder than ever, a fact that's not lost on grizzled surveillance unit leader Captain Wong (Simon Yam). Known casually by the code name "Dog Head" to his underlings, Captain Wong is currently mentoring pretty rookie "Piggy" (Kate Tsui), and has made it unmistakably clear that the sole function of the SU is not to engage the criminal, but observe him. When "Piggy" breaks the primary rule of the SU during a particularly sensitive mission on the streets of Kowloon, Shan retaliates by striking back at the unit with everything he's got. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This Hong Kong actioner is basically a remake of Brian DePalma's 1987 The Untouchables. A tough cop is determined to bring down a powerful gangster but also has to fight corrupt elements both in the police department and the political establishment of the city. He is befriended by a federal agent (Maggie Cheung) who is also determined to bring down the gangster. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Following up on his two-fisted 2000 flick The Mission, Johnnie To, along with Wai Ka Fai, directs this high-octane shoot 'em up about a pair of hired killers vying for their reputation and for a beautiful girl. O (Takashi Sorimachi) is a reclusive, highly disciplined assassin who is considered the top killer of Hong Kong. Since the murder of his comely housekeeper, with whom he secretly has fallen in love, he has grown even more inward. For him, any connection to the outside is fraught with danger, usually leading to death. Tok (played by pop star and heartthrob Andy Lau) is the polar opposite of O -- brash and eager to be number one. Chin (Kelly Lin) is O's part-time housekeeper -- a replacement to her murdered predecessor -- and current obsession. When Tok seduces her -- in between knocking off gangsters in a Bill Clinton mask -- he forces O out of his seclusion and into a confrontation with his rival. Meanwhile, Interpol, lead by Inspector Lee (Simon Yam of Bullet in the Head fame), is hot on their trail. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide