SUN DRAGON

SUN DRAGON
猪仔血泪
(Zhu zai xie lei)
Hongkong, 1979

Willy Dozan
Carl Scott
Louis Neglia
Joseph Jennings
Liang Hsiao Sung

Directed by Hwa Yi Hsi

A trio of robbers looking for a hideout happens upon a farm and wipes out the family, save for the son, Tim (Carl Scott), who is badly wounded in his escape. Billy Chong (Willy Dozan) and his pal find Tim and take the battered kid to their doctor uncle, who heals Tim by using Chinese remedies. Naturally, Tim wants revenge on the gang that murdered his family. After some martial arts training from the doc, Tim sets out with Billy for some good ol' fashioned vengeance.

This is Willy Dozan's first appearance in Hongkong movies. And his name was changed into Billy Chong. He was pairing with the same director for the next movies, Crystal Fist and Kung Fu Zombie. There is a-plenty of fighting and both Billy Chong and Carl Scott (who is a very good black fighter) are good leads. Being budget minded, the locations are spare and the fighting is strictly ground kung fu, no trickery or outlandishness.

HIGH AND LOW

HIGH AND LOW
天国と地獄
(Tengoku to jigoku)

Japan, 1963

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Toshiro Mifune

Tatsuya Nakadai

High and Low is a play in two acts. The first act tells of an executive named Kingo Gondo (Toshirō Mifune) who mortgages all he has to stage a leveraged buyout and gain control of a company called National Shoes, with the intent of keeping the company out of the hands of its other executives. Gondo disagrees with the executives over the direction of the company. One faction wants to make the company a modern mass market low quality manufacturer while the founder of the company tries to keep it conservative with good quality. Gondo believes he can split the difference by making high quality modern shoes. Then he learns that his son has been kidnapped. Gondo is prepared to pay the ransom, until he learns that the kidnappers have mistakenly abducted the child of Gondo's chauffeur, instead of his own son. The kidnapping occurs in parallel with the corporate buyout drama and Gondo is forced to make an immediate decision about whether to pay the ransom or complete the buyout. His position is exposed to the other executives when his top aide betrays him to protect his own position. Finally, after a long night of contemplation and pressure from his wife and the chauffeur, Gondo decides to pay the ransom. This decision essentially seals his fate as the other executives now have the power to vote him out of this directorship. Interestingly, this move ends up making Gondo into a national hero while the National Shoe Company is vilified and boycotted.

The second act follows police procedure as they put together clues to find the kidnapped child, the ransom money, and the kidnapper. It is revealed that the main kidnapper is in fact a medical intern at a nearby hospital, whose sole motive is his hatred for Gondo which stems from jealousy. His apartment is directly under Gondo's significantly larger house on an overlooking hill, one of the many hints of the films title all throughout the film. As the he gets rid of his accomplices via drug overdose, the detective hatches a plot to catch the him when all seems lost. The detective lures him out of hiding by pretending that his accomplices survived his attempt to dispatch them. Gondo and the kidnapper finally meet face to face at the very end, and motives and feelings are examined.

RAID ON ENTEBBE

RAID ON ENTEBBE
USA, 1977

Directed by Irvin Kershner

Peter Finch
Charles Bronson
Yaphet Kotto

Raid on Entebbe is a 1977 TV movie directed by Irvin Kershner. It is based on an actual event: Operation Entebbe and the freeing of hostages at Entebbe Airport in Entebbe, Uganda on July 4, 1976. It was the last movie to be released featuring Academy Award-winning actor Peter Finch.

The movie was released shortly after a more hastily released

made-for-television version came out - Victory at Entebbe (1976). This version of Operation Entebbe is believed to be fairly accurate, although some details of the actual raid remain unclear and somewhat controversial even today. The basic facts of the rescue of hostages held when hijackers working for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine boarded and hijacked an Air France plane recounts the events and response of the Israeli government and the controversy that the rescue stirred. This version shows the difficult deliberations held by the Cabinet of Israel to decide on a top-secret military raid on the Jewish Sabbath by commandos; a difficult and daring operation carried out over 2500 miles from home, and of course, an unwillingness of the Israeli government to give in to terrorist demands. One commando was killed (the operation commander Jonathan Netanyahu, brother of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), a very small number of hostages, and soldiers under the then dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin.

THE STORY OF WOO VIET

THE STORY OF WOO VIET
胡越的故事
(Woo yuet dik goo si)

Chow Yun Fat
Cherie Chung
Cora Miao

Directed by Ann Hui

The Story of Woo Viet is a political drama made by director Ann Hui in 1981. Actor Chow Yun Fat played the title character, Woo Viet. Stanley Kwan was the assistant director was Stanley Kwan and Ching Siu-Tung was the action choreographer.

The movie was one of the first few political dramas made in Hong Kong. It used the story of Vietnamese refugees (boat people) to reflect on Hong Kong's handling of the refugee issue, and also on Hong Kong's sentiment regarding their uncertain future of sovereignty at the time.

Woo Viet (Chow Yun Fat) wants to leave his country, Vietnam, behind and start over in the United States. But he first must make his way to Hong Kong. In a refugee detention camp there, he discovers many of his countrymen are disappearing under mysterious circumstances. As Woo tries to find out what is happening, he realizes his life is in danger, and has to leave for the United States immediately using a false passport instead of seeking asylum. In the process, he meets a beautiful woman, Cham Thanh (Cherie Chung), who then travels with him. When Woo and his new love stop over in the Philippines, they discover that the females are conned to stay there to become prostitutes. Instead of taking the plane to the United States, Woo Viet decides to stay in the Philippines to save his love. However, as he is stranded in Manila's Chinatown, Woo Viet is forced to work as a hired killer.

Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards 1982

Best Screenplay (Alfred Cheung)

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS

USA 1993

Directed by Bille August

Jeremy Irons

Meryl Streep

Glenn Close

Winona Ryder

Antonio Banderas

Based on Isabel Allende's best seller epic novel, THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS follows the powerful Truebas family on an entrancing journey that begins in the tranquil days of the 1920s and ends in the modern turbulence of the 1970s. The tale begins in South America in 1926, when a young man, Esteban (Jermy Irons), falls in love with the daughter of a rich man, Rosa Del Valle (Teri Polo). He vows to become rich enough to make her his wife and spends months of toil in the gold fields to earn enough money to do just that. Before the two marry, however, Rosa is killed by poison meant for her father. After the tragedy, Esteban moves to Trés Marias, an abandoned ranch, and spends 20 years of his life turning the ranch into a thriving estate, exploiting the labor of the poor who live off the land.

When he returns to the city, he comes across Rosa's younger sister Clara (Meryl Streep), now a woman with telekinetic abilities. Clara took a vow of silence years before, but upon the arrival of Esteban, she speaks for the first time in years -- "You have come to propose marriage to me," she says. Esteban and Clara marry, and Esteban takes her back to the ranch, where they have a daughter, Blanca (Winona Ryder). Their daughter falls in love with the son of one of Esteban's foremen, a hot-headed revolutionary named Pedro (Antonio Banderas). Now, the country is in the throes of revolution. Esteban banishes his sister Ferula (Glenn Close) from the ranch, beats his wife, and rapes a peasant woman. The product of Esteban's rape (Joaquin Martinez) grows into an angry young man who convinces Esteban to send him away to military school. When there is a military coup, the illegitimate son returns to Trés Marias with revenge and torture on his mind.

Principal photography took place in Denmark, but some scenes were filmed in Lisbon and Alentejo, Portugal. It won awards at the Bavarian Film Awards, German Film Awards, Golden Screen (Germany), Havana Film Festival, and Robert Festival (Denmark), as well as from the German Phono Academy and the Guild of German Art House Cinemas

WILD SEARCH

WILD SEARCH
Hongkong, 1989

Directed by Ringo Lam

Chow Yun Fat
Cherie Chung

Ku Feng
Roy Cheung


Chow Yun Fat plays Hong Kong Police Sergeant Lau Chun Pong, nicknamed "Mew Mew". Mew Mew is a man on the ragged edge. He is, we learn a widower whose wife and child were killed by a robber, he is a man in a downward spiral. He seems numb to life that swirls around him--when he is first introduced, he's sitting in a car, chain smoking cigarettes and drinking from his flask, watching the drama of street life before him as he awaits the arrival of an informan. His expression is disinterested and weary--he pursues the arms dealers who are his prey with a curious detachment. He is going through the motions of being a policeman, yet one senses, that it is only his work that is keeping him going at all. He still commands the loyalty, respect and affection of his colleagues, including his supervisor. He's a good cop and a good man who has lost his way due to overwhelming grief.

Cherie Chung plays the sister of the murdered arms dealer--whose death sets the plot in motion. Chung's Cher Lee is a woman of quiet strength and dignity. Life has not been kind to her. Her husband betrayed her, leading a secret second life with a woman from the Chinese interior, fathering a son. During their marriage he berated her for being clumsy and stupid. Rather than continuing to suffer the humiliation, Cher has divorced him and lives quietly with her father, working along side him in the village fields, harvesting bamboo.

Her sister's death brings Mew Mew--pursuing the arms case--into her life in a dramatic fashion. Their relationship is at first contentious as he suspects her and her father of complicity in the dead sister's arms dealing. The relationship begins to transform as Mew Mew aids Cher in tracking down the father of her sister's illegitimate 4 year old daughter--who turns out to be the kingpin of the arms smuggling operation that the police are investigating.

Their bond is forged as the arms case heats up--thrown into each others company, facing adversity and danger, these two wounded souls begin to blossom. A tentative, tender relationship grows and is tested time and again through Mew Mew's suspension from the force (a result of threatening the powerful, rich arms kingpin); a domestic drama within Cher's family concerning her young niece and her father: the complication of Cher's ex-husband reentering the picture determined to win his wife back; and an assassination attempt on Mew Mew's life by one of the kingpin's henchman--the murderer of Cher's sister.

To be sure, these are restrained performances, yet one only has to watch Cherie Chung as Cher as she sits at the bedside of the wounded Mew Mew, not knowing if he will live or die, her worry, longing and love playing over her features, to appreciate her work in this film. Chow's Mew Mew may lack the flash and dazzle of some of his bullet ballet roles, but the transformation from grief stricken widower to a man being brought back to life by love is fascinating to watch. His scenes with the young actress playing the daughter of the murdered woman are especially touching and heartwarming.

Action fans and bullet ballet junkies will be disappointed by this film. But those of us who enjoy character driven drama will find much to enjoy in Wild Search.

MELODY

MELODY
UK, 1971

Mark Lester

Tracy Hyde

Jack Wild

Director: Waris Hussein

Producer: David Puttnam

Script: Alan Parker

Original Music: Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb and Richard Hews

David Puttnam's first production and Alan Parker's first script meld together to create this delicate and sensitive story of pre-pubescent romance told from a child’s-eye viewpoint. Bearing a passing resemblance to both The Graduate and If..., this endearing story strains credibility at times but if you can withhold your disbelief this intriguing little film holds great appeal. An excellent musical score is provided by the Bee Gees. The film is alternatively known as SWALK (Sealed with a Loving Kiss), and reunites the youthful stars of Carol Reed’s Oliver; Jack Wild and Mark Lester.

Two lonely boys from opposite backgrounds, Daniel Latimer (Mark Lester), and Ornshaw (Jack Wild), become firm friends at a south London comprehensive school. Things change when Daniel notices ten-year old Melody Perkins (Tracy Hyde) in dancing class and falls in love. At first Melody rebuffs his advances, but gradually she reciprocates and returns his feelings. Despite initially aiding his friend, Ornshaw becomes bitter at being shoved aside and the two friends fight. Daniel and Melody announce to their perplexed parents, in all seriousness, that they intend to get married. This marriage is not planned for the distant future, but as soon as possible. Ornshaw performs a mock ‘marriage’ ceremony under a derelict railroad viaduct, and their rampaging classmates collude in helping them evade pursuing teachers and parents. Ultimately, the young ‘newlyweds’ escape into the sunset on a railroad handcar.

NEVER GIVE UP

NEVER GIVE UP/
PROOF OF THE WILD
(YASEI NO SHOMEI)
Japan, 1978

Ken Takakura
Ryoko Nakano
Hiroko Yakushimaru

Directed by Junya Sato

Ken Takakura stars in the Japanese action film NEVER GIVE UP (YASEI NO SHOMEI, aka PROOF OF THE WILD). He plays Ajisawa, who is part of a top-secret military organization trying to cover-up a series of accidental murders that occurred during a training exercise. The only survivor is a young boy whom Ajisawa adopts as his own. Years later, after his retirement from the military, he finds himself forced to return to the scene of the murders to investigate the disappearance of a journalist who was looking into them. He inadvertently reveals his part in the killings, leading to his arrest and the military's decision to eliminate him, placing his adopted son in danger as well. NEVER GIVE UP is an action film about finding redemption.

Ajisawa (Ken Takakura) is a mysterious warrior in a secret Japanese paramilitary group who, while on a training exercise in the woods, stumbles into a group of rural party-makers. In the ensuing conflict he kills everyone except one young teenaged boy. The boy was wounded in the conflict, but Ajisawa adopts him and nurses him back to health. A year later, he returns to the scene of the crime in his job as a claims adjuster, investigating the death of a newswoman who was digging into the story of the woodland killings.

Police detective Kitano (Isao Natsuki) has been looking into the killings also, as well as the death of the woman. He believes that these crimes have something to do with the gangster Ochi (Ryoko Nakano), and that Ajisawa is responsible. When he arrests Ajisawa, the paramilitary group decides to execute its own man because he showed "softness" in adopting the boy. The boy and the policeman also become targets, and the three become allies in their attempts to escape death.

A FISTFUL OF TALONS

A FISTFUL OF TALONS
Hongkong, 1983

Directed by Sun Chung

Willy Dozan
Pai Ying
Hwang In Shik

A FISTFUL OF TALONS is a classic kung fu gem featuring charismatic star Billy Chong (KUNG FU ZOMBIE), Hapkido expert Hwang In-shik from THE YOUNG MASTER as lead villain and the action choreography of Robert Tai (THE FIVE VENOMS). It possesses more than enough genre talent in front of and behind the camera to make it worth tracking down.

A hot-headed country bumpkin (Chong) encounters a kung fu master, played by Taiwanese wuxia film veteran Pai Ying, who is on the run from Qing loyalists. After getting into his own trouble with the Qing, Chong leaves his father’s restaurant to become Pai’s student and aid him in fighting the Qing and their fierce Manchurian leader (Hwang).

Where TALONS gets a little more interesting is in its time period which is shortly after the fall of the Qing Dynasty and during the Republican era. Hwang, is plotting to lead a revolt against the government yet first needs to claim an imperial seal from Pai. Thankfully, this overused plot device is given little further attention and instead the film focuses on the famous Manchurian queue (ponytail) that all Qing-era men were required by law to wear. With the dissolution of the Qing Dynasty, so went the queue, a sure sign of treasonous loyalty to the old regime.

Chong and his buddies initially make it their mission to cut off any queues they see on Qing loyalists. This leads to a frantic group fight within a grain barn involving scissors, sickles and lots of severed hair. It draws on a similar scene in Jackie Chan’s DRAGON LORD while displaying early, advanced elements of the dynamic rope and ladders scene that the Yuen Clan choreographed for ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA in 1991.

This scene, with its overhead camera sweeps and exaggerated wire-assisted leaps, sets the kinetic tone for all the action to come. Chong, a balanced screen fighter with strong sparring and leg fighting skills has no trouble leaping right into Tai’s action madness with an assured stance and cocksure attitude.

Chong’s mission is complicated when his efforts to bag a trio of petty thieves for the reward money catches the eye of a village elder and more importantly his spirited daughter (Liu Hao-yi). She ends up following Chong as he fights his way through more Qing fighters to catch up with Pai. Chong receives a rather bland and ill-defined kung fu training course from Pai. They come to her rescue towards the end in what becomes one of the most violent, dramatic and cruel uses of animals in a fight sequence.

(edited from Mark Pollard's review)

LE CERCLE ROUGE

LE CERCLE ROUGE (THE RED CIRCLE)

France/Italy, 1970

Directed by Jean Pierre Melville

Alain Delon

Yves Montand

Gian Maria Volonte

Corey (Alain Delon) is the young gun in the French underworld who has just been released from prison. Escaped convict Vogel (Gian-Maria Volonte) hides in the trunk of Corey's car. The two enlist the help of an alcoholic former cop (Yves Montand) for an elaborate jewelry-store robbery. Police inspector Mattei (Bourvil) whom Vogel escaped in the beginning of the film is on the case trying to recapture the criminals. He is not opposed to using blackmail techniques to get answers out of the unwilling witnesses and criminals brought in for questioning.

Part of the genius of Jean-Pierre Melville was that he was able to take the formal elements of the crime film and put a thoroughly individual stamp on them. His best films take the stuff of a thousand grade-B thrillers and invest them with a singular intelligence and quiet cool. On the surface, Le Cercle Rouge concerns two criminals thrown into a slightly uneasy alliance with a corrupt and alcoholic ex-cop to pull off a heist, but in Melville's hands this becomes a story about kindred spirits brought together through chance and unforeseen circumstance; their lives on the other side of the law have as much to do with their own personal sense of ethics and honor as those of the lawmen who struggle to track them down.

Melville's clean, elegant framing of shots and his appreciation of the value of silence gives this picture a spare but satisfying feel quite different from most European crime films, and the subtle but sharply etched performances of Alain Delon, Gian Maria Volonte, and Yves Montand are the ideal embodiment of Melville's notion that less is more.

In 1970, Le Cercle Rouge received a spotty release in the United States in a version cut by some 40 minutes; the uncut print finally received a belated American release in 2002, and in its fine form, Le Cercle Rouge reveals itself as a film whose subtle touch only adds to the tension and suspense it generates ? a valuable lesson for filmmakers who believe that the function of genre filmmaking is to slap the viewer about the face and neck.

THE PAINTED VEIL

THE PAINTED VEIL

USA/China 2006

Naomi Watts

Edward Norton

Liev Schreiber

Toby Jones

Diana Rigg

Anthony Wong Chau-Sang

Directed by: John Curran

Edward Norton, who has given two award-caliber performances this year, in Down in the Valley and The Illusionist, now delivers a third. He uncovers a beating heart in Walter Fane, a social misfit of a British bacteriologist, who manages to persuade headstrong Kitty (Naomi Watts, a seductively dangerous blend of fire and ice) to marry him, leave her London whirl and travel with him to a remote Chinese village beset by a cholera epidemic. When a stop in Shanghai results in Kitty's adulterous fling with a diplomat (Liev Schreiber), the plot suggests that the vengeful Walter may be hoping the cholera will kill his wife. If you're suspecting this third movie version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel may carry the infectious dullness of prestige filmmaking, rest easy. Norton, who worked for six years to get the film produced, is up to far livelier business. As directed by the gifted John Curran (We Don't Live Here Anymore), from a taut script by Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia), the film is a period piece propelled by emotions accessible to a modern audience. Maugham never detailed Walter's work or Kitty's frustration; the film does. Maugham couldn't show us the China that opened Walter's and Kitty's eyes to a world beyond their own; the film does. And Maugham didn't have the benefit of two actors -- Norton and Watts nail every nuance in their roles -- who could show the romance inherent in mutual respect. The Painted Veil has the power and intimacy of a timeless love story. By all means, let it sweep you away. (Peter Travers / Rolling Stone)

EXILED

EXILED

Hongkong 2006

Drama/Action

Executive Producer: John Chong

Producer: Johnnie To

Screenplay: Yip Tin-shing, Szeto Kam-yuen

Cinematographer: Cheng Siu-keung

Editor: David Richardson

Production Designer: Tony Yu

Sound: May Mok, Charlie Lo

Music: Guy Zerafa

Principal Cast:

Francis Ng

Anthony Wong

Nick Cheung

Simon Yam

Josie Ho

Roy Cheung

Lam Suet

Directed by: Johnnie To

Bullet-ridden and star-studded, Exiled - the latest action-packed film from Johnnie To - sheds a dusky light on the melancholic end of an era. The 1999 turnover of the Portuguese colony of Macau to China is investigated here through the unique rites of passage of a group of cold-blooded hit men as they wonder what the future has in store for them, try to make quick money or simply hope to retire.

Gathering some of his regular actors - including Roy Cheung, Lam Suet and Simon Yam - and pairing them with Anthony Wong and Francis Ng (from the Infernal Affairs films), To creates an exquisite ensemble piece in which the borders between tragedy and deadpan comedy blur, resulting in a highly entertaining, black-comic thrill.

Directing the viewer to understand and sympathize with each of the characters, To spins the tale of the traitor Wo (Nick Cheung), who has decided to quit his criminal life and wants to live quietly with his family. His story is tied to that of the other hit men - and former buddies - who have come to Macau to kill him. Resolved to take him down, but also willing to negotiate a sort of gentlemen's agreement, they grant Wo another day of life and help him find one last job to provide for his future widow and newborn baby.

Enigmatic yet visually eloquent, Exiled seems to follow a fleeting code of honour in its compelling articulation of situations and moods. As various contract killers crop up on the small island to stalk each other, To's slow-burning storytelling builds a strong narrative tension and unveils the inner rhythm of his characters' emotions. The film's aesthetic mixes gangster iconography, languid atmospheres and stylized Macau sets with superb cinematography, recalling the baroque intensity of Caravaggio's paintings. The blazing trajectories of bullets cross paths with the men's desires and palpable anxieties about their uncertain futures in this brilliantly choreographed ballet.

ROCCO & HIS BROTHERS

ROCCO & HIS BROTHERS

Italy 1960

Directed by Luchino Visconti

Alain Delon

Renato Salvatori

Claudia Cardinale

Luchino Visconti's operatic masterpiece tells the story of the Parondis, a poor family from a village in southern Italy who come to Milan seeking a better life. Following the death of her husband, proud Rosaria (Katina Paxinou) picks up stakes and moves to the city with her four sons: Simone (Renato Salvatori), Rocco (Alain Delon), Ciro (Max Cartier), and Luca (Rocco Vidolazzi). Awaiting them in Milan is her oldest son, Vincenzo (Spiros Focas), who himself is preoccupied with his impending nuptials to the beautiful Ginetta (Claudia Cardinale). Divided into chapters focused loosely on each brother, the movie chronicles the Parondis' struggle to get by, as the brothers take odd jobs and the family endures life in a cramped tenement. Much of the movie's second half deals largely with Simone and Rocco. The loutish Simone eventually finds success as a boxer, and the family soon moves to a better neighborhood. Meanwhile, Rocco gets drafted by the military, and becomes a successful boxer himself upon his return. Complications arise when Nadia (Annie Girardot), a prostitute, enters their lives. Simone falls in love with Nadia first; however, Rocco eventually becomes the object of her affection. Simone's obsession with Nadia and his rapidly deteriorating behavior ultimately threaten to bring the family to ruin, even as the saintly Rocco tries to save his brother. At the peak of Rocco's success, Simone commits a crime that cruelly dashes Rocco's hopes of keeping the family together.

LEE ROCK

LEE ROCK

Hongkong 1991

Directed by Lawrence Lau Kwok-Cheung

Andy Lau
Cheung Man
Chingmy Yau
Kwan Hoi-San
Paul Chun-Pui
Ng Man-Tat

How do you remain honest in a fundamentally dishonest system? That's the question raised in Lawrence Lau's Lee Rock, a critically acclaimed 1991 docudrama that details the meteoric rise of its title character from humble beat cop to mega-powerful chief of police. In an HKFA-nominated performance, Andy Lau stars as Lee Rock, a barely literate street urchin who snags a job as a policeman for one simple reason: to put food on the table. At the academy, he learns there's more to being a police officer than he first realized. In a private talk with Lee's graduating class, a respected instructor (Eddy Ko in a cameo) gives his students a final piece of advice: the point of the game isn't to protect and serve, but to move your way up the chain of command. Sadly, this feat requires a lot of shady behavior, including both the giving and receiving of bribes. Not to participate in such actions, Ko's character tells them, is to condemn yourself to a pauper's grave.

At least initially, Lee Rock sticks to his ideals and declines every kickback that comes his way. And while his refusal to take bribes earns him the contempt of his fellow officers, it also garners him the respect and loyalty of Lardo (Ng Man-Tat), a street hawker who soon becomes Lee's trusted confidante. We also meet Rose (Chingmy Yau), the pinnacle of wide-eyed, pigtailed innocence, who loves Lee deeply, but has to keep it a secret from her authoritarian father (Wong Yat-Fei). When her dad learns of the relationship with Lee, he's less than thrilled with the fact that Rose's boyfriend is a policeman. While Rose's father despises cops for their corruption, he actually considers Lee to be even worse since all the honesty in the world won't put a roof over his daughter's head. Rose's father forbids a marriage, and soon enough, Rose is sent packing to a faraway place. A heartbroken Lee uses his police connections to search for her, but alas, has no luck in finding his lost love.

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Eventually, the kindly—and only marginally corrupt—Sgt. Chan (Kwan Hoi-San) takes Lee under his protective wing, telling his young pupil, "All great men started small." Taking Chan's advice to heart, Lee vows to rise up the ranks of the department to become chief of police. The only obstacle in his way is Sgt. Ngan Tung (Paul Chun Pui), a morally bankrupt politico who will stop at nothing to destroy Lee's career. Just as Lee's job prospects begin to improve, things heat up in the romance department when he meets a knockout by the name of Grace (played with an alluring brashness by a poodle-skirted Cheung Man). The spoiled daughter of a big-time gangster, Grace provides a romantic entanglement for Lee that is virtually the polar opposite of his situation with Rose. Even so, the issue of money arises with Grace's father as well, but thankfully, this time Lee passes the test. Marriage, promotions, political maneuverings, riots, a hostage situation, and a surprise cliffhanger ending are just a sample of the events that unfold in this thoroughly satisfying motion picture.

Proving worthy of his Best Actor nomination, Andy Lau excels in the role of Lee Rock, playing him as the idealistic country bumpkin in the early portions of the film, yet modifying his portrayal ever so minutely as the character develops over time. Somehow, Lau is able to control his smarminess level, letting it slowly leak to the surface in tandem with Lee Rock's ascension to power. Similarly, the performances of Lau's fellow cast members are equally strong with too many fine turns to single out in the space of a single review.

Like life, Lee Rock unfolds in a series of random events, and it's this seeming absence of a hackneyed formula (save for the cliffhanger) that adds to the illusion of realism. And though the film's lack of trademark over-the-top action might disappoint viewers whose interest in Hong Kong films depends solely on the number of slow-motion gun battles, I found Lee Rock's relatively action-free narrative to be a refreshing departure from the mindless "Let's blow stuff up!" mentality that typifies many a cops 'n robbers flick. Underneath the romance and the drama, it's the ethical quandaries that Lee faces that provide the backbone of the film. It's a Catch-22: you can't clean up the streets as simple beat cop, but you can't move up the ladder unless you get your hands dirty. Unfortunately, it's only by taking kickbacks that Lee Rock is able to get ahead in the world. And consequently, the reachable goal here is not to become a force of good, but instead to be the lesser of two evils. It's the only way that Lee Rock can make some effective changes within a system that runs on corruption. Whether he ultimately becomes the solution or just another part of the problem remains to be seen; that answer lies in the sequel.

11th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards

• Winner - Best Supporting Actor (Kwan Hoi-San)

• Nomination - Best Picture

• Nomination - Best Actor (Andy Lau Tak-Wah)

• Nomination - Best Supporting Actress (Chingmy Yau Suk-Ching)

• Nomination - Best Screenplay (Chan Man-Keung)

• Nomination - Best Cinematography (Lee Chi-Hang, Andrew Lau)

• Nomination - Best Art Direction (Mok Siu-Kei)

SCORPIO

SCORPIO

USA 1973

Directed by Michael Winner

Burt Lancaster
Alain Delon

The prime minister of Eritrea is assassinated by political opponents, setting off a chain of events with global repercussions in the intelligence community. Burt Lancaster plays Cross, a CIA operative who dates back to the agency's earliest days as the OSS. Scorpio (Alain Delon) is a protégé of Cross, and one of Cross's best friends in a netherworld where everyone's allegiances, personal and political, are in question. Higher-ups within the intelligence agency decide that Cross knows too much and is better off eliminated; at first, Scorpio refuses the job until the CIA frames him on a phony narcotics bust and coerces him into the assignment. The two men play a game of global cat-and-mouse as Cross consorts with his Russian counterparts--fellow aging dinosaurs in a young man's game. Cross's links with the Russians go back to the days of the Spanish Civil War and the time when Cross was given the ironic label of "premature anti-Fascist" by the House Unamerican Activities Committee. The incredibly convoluted plot is rife with double-crosses and reverse double-crosses, in an environment in which nothing is quite as it seems and no one is to be trusted. Director Michael Winner infuses enough energy and excitement into the film's many action segments to make Scorpio worthy of comparison to John Frankenheimer's best political thrillers. Winner also throws in several curveballs, such as the zither music during a meeting in a Vienna café (shades of The Third Man) and the preposterous device of disguising Lancaster as an African American priest. Though not quite a classic, Scorpio is still an underrated espionage thriller that was well attuned to the political cynicism of the time.

PANDJI TENGKORAK

PANDJI TENGKORAK
(THE GHOSTLY FACE)

Indonesia/Taiwan 1972

Directed by Yang Sai King

Shang Kuan Ling Feng
Deddy Sutomo
Lenny Marlina

When a man acts as Pandji Tengkorak/Ghostly Face and kills a girl's father and steals his sword, she sets off for revenge. The girl (Shang Kuan Ling Feng) is unaware that Ghostly Face (Deddy Sutomo) isn't the killer, but has been set up by a a band of pirates. Along the way the girl rescues another girl who was taken by the pirates and the pair set off together to find out whats really going on.

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Based on the popular Indonesian serial comic books by Hans Jaladara, PANDJI TENGKORAK was made entirely in Bali.

BORSALINO & CO.

BORSALINO & CO.

France 1974

Directed by Jacques Deray

Alain Delon

Riccardo Cucciolla

Adolfo Lastretti

Gabriella Farinon

Catherine Rouvel

Inspired by Eugene Saccomano's novel THE BANDITS OF MARSEILLES, masterful crime director Jacques Deray delivers the sequel to BORSALINO. Jean Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon starred in the original as partners in crime. Following the death of Belmondo's character at the hands of rival gangsters, Roch (Delon) returns here to extract revenge. Set in the south of France in the 1930s, the film follows its charismatic hero as he protects his underground empire against the Italian mob, all the while wreaking vengeance in particularly gruesome and innovative ways on those responsible for his partner's death. With a meticulously-assembled period set, beautiful photography of the picturesque landscape, and the director's deft touch with the material, this is an adept noir thriller that features France's swoon-inducing equivalent of James Dean. The amazing music done by Claude Bolling.

SHIRI

SHIRI

Korea 1998

Directed by Kang Jae-Kyu

Han Suk-Kyu
Choi Min-Sik
Song Gang-Ho
Kim Yoo-Jin

"Swiri recorded the Top Box Office in Korean Film history, breaking the Korean Box Office record of Titanic after 57 days in release. The unique combination of 51% action, 49% love helps Shiri become a movie that excites all strands of the audience's sensibility without a moment of relaxation!" The preceding paragraph was not just box-cover hype. This film delivers from start to finish.

Ryu and Lee are special agents of O.P., the nation's top secret intelligence service. The arms smuggler Lim is shot by a sniper in the street one day after volunteering to tell them some important information. From the scene of Lim's death, Ryu instinctively suspects the involvement of Hee, the best sniper of the 8th Special Force Unit of North Korea. She has previously assassinated many government officials and hid herself from the unrelenting pursuit of Ryu. Now she's back after one year.

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Ryu and Lee investigate the death of Lim. In the process, they learn that Hee had tried to secure into her possession the CTX, the liquid bomb newly developed by the National Defense Lab with the help of Lim. Meanwhile, Park and the elite agents of the 8th Special Force succeed in seizing the CTX while it is being transported to the corps headquarters. While everyone is trying hard to retrieve the CTX, director Ko, Ryu and Lee are suspicious of each other, creating a delicate and suspenseful situation. While the situation eludes solution, the date set for the marriage of Ryu and Hyun approaches quickly. But their marriage may be another sign of impending misfortune

THE PROFFESSIONAL

LE PROFESSIONNEL
(THE PROFESSIONAL)

France 1981

Directed by Georges Lautner

Jean Paul Belmondo
Michel Beaune
Cyrielle Claire
Jean Desailly

Jean Paul Belmondo (Godard's Breathless) brings his smoldering intensity to French super-spy Joss Baumont, a top agent sent on a mission to assassinate a foreign dictator. But when the political winds change, and Baumont is double-crossed by his own government, revenge becomes the name of the game. Prison can't hold him and no one can stand in his way as Baumont lays down the gauntlet - he will carry out his assignment and someone must die! Director Georges Lautner delivers a taut, thrilling espionage drama with a sensational score from Ennio Morricone.

PROOF OF THE MAN

NINGEN NO SHOMEI (PROOF OF THE MAN)

Japan/USA 1977

Directed by Junya Sato

Yusaku Matsuda
George Kennedy
Toshiro Mifune
Mariko Okada

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime. The film had a brief run in the Japanese art houses back then, and never got a good U.S. booking for a big film from Japan in 1977. There is two version of the film, one is a Japanese print which runs more than 130 minutes, and a U.S. version, which was re-dubbed and addition scenes was added, and some Japanese scenes were cut out (Making Toshiro Mifune only appear once). The US version never got any theatrical booking as it came out on video in a small label in 1985.

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The film is about a Black man (played by singer Joe Yamanaka) murdered in Japan, and a cop (the late Yusaku Matsuda, star of Paramount film BLACK RAIN) is on the case to solve the mystery. He later goes to America to team up with George Kennedy, who later Yusaku realized is the man that killed his father in WW2 days. Many American actors like Broadrick Crawford, Theresa Merritt, Rick Jason and William Sanderson are featured in supporting parts. There is lots of well acted scenes, car chase in New York, and the film is like a big puzzle slowly being put together. The title song Mama Do You Remember was sung by Joe Yamanaka.