Asian Drama

With an entirely new set of actors, this movie continues the story from Swordsman (1990). Blademaster and his martial arts school decide to retire to a distant mountain. Before leaving, he visits his friends, a tribe of snake-wielding women warriors. He finds that they have been attacked, and their leader, Princess Yin-Yin, toward whom he has some romantic feelings, has been abducted. The attacker is her evil uncle Fong, who years before overthrew Yin-Yin's father and took over their sect. Fong also has possession of a sacred scroll which tells how to achieve ultimate martial arts power. Blademaster decides to help Yin-Yin and her imprisoned father, and his romantic complications deepen when his childhood chum and Yin-Yin are joined by a new rival. Blademaster thinks she is an innocent village girl he has saved, but in fact she is Fong! The process of gaining ultimate martial arts power requires self- castration and transmogrification into female form.

Durring the Tang Dynasty, a kung-fu tournament was held once every 18 years with the winner declared the leader of the land until the next competition. But a tournament with such high stakes brings out the best, and worst, in the various competitors and leaders.

Despite bearing Wong Jing's name, this fluffy comedy is pretty good for wacky Hong Kong fare. Richard Ng is the lonely widower father who schemes with son Jimmy Lin to get his three daughters married. He pretends to have testicle cancer, so the three daughters all try to bring home boyfriends (albeit fake ones) to placate their “dying” father. Brigitte Lin is a tough HK cop (named Ching Siu-Tung, get it?) who brings home the King of Gigolo Karaoke Tony Leung Ka-Fai. Social worker Maggie Cheung brings home wacky triad guy Jackie Cheung. And youngest sister Chingmy Yau brings home a twenty-seven year-old virgin (Dior Cheng) who she roped in by pretending to be a poor hooker. Yeah, that sounds about right. As is usual with Wong Jing, there are lots of gags, movie parodies, goofy acting, and general silliness, but it isn't oppressive like in his other movies. Maggie Cheung is winning and weird as "nice" sister Nam, and Tony Leung Ka-Fai is hilarious in another of his terrific comedy performances. Sandra Ng appears in a cameo and gets to beat up Jimmy Lin, which is always a welcome sight. This is a surprisingly funny wackfest despite many Hong Kong-specific jokes that would only confuse the rest of us. (review from lovehkfilm.com)

A man looking for the release of a long-time prisoner takes a police officer, his daughter, and a group of strangers hostage.

The film takes place at a firmly established crossroads in modern Chinese history. The year is 1913, and General Yuan Shi-Kai has taken power in the wake of the Qing Dynasty's fall. Yuan requires a large sum of money from European governments to stay in power, and General Tsao is helping Yuan secure the loan. However, his daughter Tsao Wan is secretly working for the revolutionaries, and plots to steal the loan documents from her father.

However, things aren't that easy. In the process of trying to steal the documents, she gets involved with two very different women. Bai Niu is the daughter of Wu Ma, who runs a Chinese Opera troupe that — as was the custom at the time — features an all-male cast. Bai wishes to be an actress onstage, but tradition forbids it. Meanwhile, golddigging musician Hong arrives at the opera house while chasing a wayward box of jewelry. The two become involved in the intrigue when Tsao Wan attempts to meet revolutionary spy Ling at the opera house while her father is taking in a performance. However, the local law enforcement is on to them, which leads to complicated circumstances and exhiliarting happenstance.

Jet (Stephen Fung) is a handsome gay hustler whose sex appeal seems to know no bounds. Everyone wants to make love to him, but he is in love with no one but himself. Things change drastically when he notices what seems like a young couple in a shop, Sam (Daniel Wu) and Kana (Shu Qi). At first sight, he falls in love with Sam and begins following the two around. Jet's friend Ching, who is also a hustler, runs a personal ad in a gay magazine for Jet, imploring Sam to contact Jet. At first, Jet is angry with Ching for not asking him, but his wrath subsides quickly when indeed he meets Sam again in what seems like a chance encounter but actually is an outcome of the personal ad. Sam turns out to be a police officer and Jet starts to befriend him, hoping this will turn into a relationship. But Sam does not seem to notice Jet's intentions. Unbeknownst to Jet, Sam had an affair with pop star K.S. (Terence Yin) five years earlier. At the same time, Ching had been in unrequited love with Sam (then calling himself Fai) when the two were office workers. Ching comes to his apartment shared with Jet when Jet and Sam are there, instantly recognizes Sam as Fai and is furious with Jet for stealing his beloved. Sam runs back to his apartment, but Jet pursues him. The two kiss, but they are interrupted by an unknown person at the door. Later, Sam believes the person to be his father. Unwilling to face his father's disappointment, he kills himself. Jet lives on as a hustler and receives a letter knowing that Sam loved him.

Wong Kar-Wai's movie about two love-struck cops is filmed in impressionistic splashes of motion and color. The first half deals with Cop 223, who has broken up with his girlfriend of five years. He purchases a tin of pineapples with an expiration date of May 1 each day for a month. By the end of that time, he feels that he will either be rejoined with his love or that it too will have expired forever. The second half shows Cop 663 dealing with his breakup with his flight attendant girlfriend. He talks to his apartment furnishings until he meets a new girl at a local lunch counter.