Clara Law Movies
Two young people with little in common are thrown together under unusual circumstances in this offbeat drama directed by Clara Law, who made a number of well-received films in Hong Kong before emigrating to Australia. Yoshiyashi (Rikiya Kurokawa) is an expert computer hacker and snake enthusiast who travels to Australia from his home in Tokyo to buy the car of his dreams -- a perfectly restored 1967 Citroen DS. However, when Yoshiyashi arrives at the home of the man selling the car, he makes a shocking discovery -- the owner has killed his wife and turned the gun on himself, leaving behind Deidre (Rose Byrne), the man's niece, who is both blind and emotionally unstable. As it turns out, the Citroen is still for sale, but now Yoshiyashi must make his deal with one of the man's relatives, who lives a five-day drive away. Yoshiyashi brings Deidre along for the ride, who in the course of the trip learns a lot about Yoshiyashi's studied cool, while he gets clearer perspective on the troubled past behind her impulsive eccentricity. The Goddess of 1967 was shown in competition at the 2000 Venice and Toronto film festivals. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rose Byrne, Nicholas Hope, (more)
- 1996
This thoughtful Australian-produced drama centers upon the experiences of the Chans, a Hong Kong family who emigrates to Sydney Australia one year before Mainland China is to take over the island city. Ma and Pa Chan choose to move to Australia with their two adolescent sons because that is where Bing, their second daughter lives with her husband. Their eldest daughter Yen lives in Munich with her German husband. Their eldest son, Gar Min (the family playboy) must remain in Hong Kong until his immigration papers clear. The Chan's arrive at Bing's home and find it cold, ultra-safe and utterly uninviting. Bing wants to fit in to Aussie society quickly and insists that her younger brothers speak English only. She also makes very sure her parents understand how different and dangerous Australia, with it's deadly spiders and vicious dogs, can be. Though the boys quickly find friends and a place in school, Ma and Pa Chan seem disoriented. Things do not improve when Yen and then Gar Min come visiting with all of their many problems. The story is filmed in Cantonese with English subtitles. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This unique, erotic film is a compilation of four separate vignettes done by four different artists. The first episode, "Let's Talk about Love," focuses on a phone-sex worker, Rosie, who finds herself attracted to a regular caller. The story focuses upon their conversations and upon the revenge she exacts from him after she learns the truth. In the second, "Taboo Parlor," two lesbians plan to go out and make it with a man. They go to Taboo Parlor, a local club which is managed by Hilde and Franz. In the third episode, "Final Call," a teacher who gets attacked on a train begins a relationship with her rescuer. The fourth episode, " Wonton Soup," examines an Australian-born Chinese man and his ex-girlfriend from Hong Kong, who reunite after years apart. In an effort to reconnect, the man prepares an evening of gourmet food and Chinese sexual techniques for the ex-girlfriend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bryan Cranston
- 1994
This black comedy satirizes Mainland China and examines the relations between Hong Kong and China as Hong Kong fast approaches its Chinese take-over in 1997. When a strange healer with ESP disappears into Hong Kong, a wealthy mainland business man hires a rumpled, beer-guzzling detective to find him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacky Cheung, Kathy Chow, (more)
- 1993
- NR
This melodramatic epic martial arts outing from Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law is set in 7th-century China and center's on a disgraced warrior's quest for redemption. Formerly a general, he trustingly made a devil's bargain with a rival general that resulted in the assassination of his troops and the prince he was sworn to protect. Though every part of him aches for bloody vengeance, the fallen fighter follows his mother's advice and becomes a peaceful wanderer. He tries, but things don't go the way he hoped for everywhere he goes. His nemesis attacks, and, before long, kills everyone the good general cares about, including his lover, a beautiful princess. He finally finds solace in a remote Buddhist temple where he undergoes instruction from elderly monks. This time trouble comes in the form of a beautiful widow, a woman who looks exactly like his slain love. On the heels of her betrayal comes the wicked general and before the heroic warrior can find lasting peace, he must survive one last battle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Chen, Wu Hsing-Kuo, (more)
This award-winning drama chronicles the adventures of a teen-aged Chinese girl and a Japanese businessman who encounter one another in Hong Kong just prior to that business metropolis' return to mainland Chinese control. In the story, Tokio is a connoisseur of good Chinese cooking who is taking some vacation time in Hong Kong. His high standards are disappointed by the restaurants in Hong Kong, but when he runs into the fifteen-year-old girl Wai, she takes him home to sample her grandmother's masterful cooking. Wai, who is waiting to join the rest of her family in Canada, leaving her grandmother behind, enjoys her first sexual experience during this time, while Tokio falls for the sister of a former flame. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law directed this sensitive drama about a young woman named Li Hung (Maggie Cheung), who is granted a student visa after considerable difficulty and travels to America to continue her education. She doesn't have an easy time of it, as she makes plain in her letters to her husband, Nansan (Tony Leung), but he tells her that she has to stay in the interests of their infant child. As her situation worsens, Li Hung asks Nansan for a divorce, but he flatly denies her request, so she cuts off all communication with him. Desperate to re-establish a connection with his wife, Nansan sneaks into the United States and arrives in New York, where he encounters a violent street gang and a friendly teenaged hooker with a heart of gold. The hooker, Jane, gets Nansan a job with her pimp while he frantically searches for Li Hung, whom he learns has managed to divorce him while he was still in Hong Kong. When they are finally reunited, Nansan realizes that his wife has become someone whom he can barely recognize. Hayley Man co-stars with Liu Chin. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Kar-Fai, (more)
- 1989
A woman is forced to pay a heavy price for the alluring impact she has on men in this erotically-charged drama from Hong Kong. During the Sung Dynasty of tenth century China, Lotus (Joi Wong) was the protagonist of a famous erotic novel in which she suffered remarkable abuses at the hands of the men in her life. After she is condemned to death, Lotus, known as "the slut of all time," pledges to return and take her revenge on the male gender. Ten centuries have passed, and Lotus has been reincarnated as a dance student living in China during the Cultural Revolution of 1968. When Lotus refuses to trade sex for help in launching her career as a professional, her teacher denounces her as a counter-revolutionary and circulates rumors that she's wildly promiscuous. Expelled from dancing school, Lotus takes a grueling job at a garment factory, where she falls in love with one of her co-workers, Wu Long (Lam Chun Yen), an amateur basketball player. Lotus scrapes up the money to buy him new shoes, but she's accused by authorities first of stealing the shoes, and then of betraying revolutionary ideals by wasting her money. After falling into prostitution, Lotus marries a businessman from Hong Kong, Wu Dai (Eric Tsang), only to discover that his brother is Wu Long, now working as his driver. Lotus steals away to a sex club one night to drown her sorrows in sensual excess, but she makes the mistake of meeting Simon (Sin Lap Man), a photographer who refuses to let Lotus alone after their night of passion. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Tsang
