...it's almost getting to the "What's a Hong Kong movie?" stage!
Heheh! Less competition for me, then!
And so many undiscovered goodies (and baddies
) out there that everyone seems to have missed over the past ten years, it's crazy!
I can understand the need to turn away from HK cinema now that it's kinda blown its course (seemingly) and Korean cinema's all the fashion (and often much better for couples to enjoy. Hint hint!), but having come off a long Korean bender awhile ago, and with all these recent bargain bin hauls, I sometimes find myself at the opposite stage to you, Mike: "What's a Korean film?" I think I simply bought and watched so many, and realized they have have nowhere near the diversity that Hong Kong cinema does (event though they're of a
consistently higher quality), and had to come back to where it all started for me. Not that that has stopped me buying Korean movies for future viewing. My girlfriend would
kill me if I did that!
Nonetheless, I decided to spend this week's "Free Thursday" (I work four days a week for the moment) at a nearby Chinese Mall. Well, actually, I'd planned on hitting about three of them, but ended up spending a good two hours in one store after I noticed the sign posted above the VCDs that said "7 for $10" and another above their DVDs that said "7 for $20." And this just AFTER I'd placed a big order with Poker using their 40% off coupon (more on that in a future post, perhaps). Mind you, this is stuff that's been sitting around for awhile, and I deliberately avoided the mounds of common stuff you can read about everywhere in favour of the usual mix of lesser-knowns, unknowns, and outright B's.
In fact, I dare say that this is arguably a GREAT time to get into Hong Kong cinema
because the prices are dropping like crazy. I'm sure Mike and others would argue that that's because it's a dying form with dying interest (including his own, it seems), but really, the number of films that I saw there (only some of which I purchased) that aren't in this database or any other, or that are poorly defined and un-reviewed if they are, was staggering.
As I've said before in this thread, there seems to be a core list of maybe 200 to 300 films that everyone knows they
must watch if they really want to appreciate Hong Kong cinema, and may be another hundred or two from the 60's/70's Shaw era, because they turn up in every book and website on the subject. But there's a
lot of stuff I'm finding that I firmly believe fell through the cracks as everybody raced to get their hands on the "must haves."
True, a lot of these titles are far from "must haves," but others, such as FATAL PASSION, which I mentioned a few pages back, would surely be a must-have movie if someone had ever bothered to include it in a film book or do an in-depth review on a key website. But such is life.
As to these cheaper and cheaper prices, well, I can't imagine that this is a "Toronto Only" thing. Surely those of you who live in or near big cities—or could make a daytrip to one—might be rewarded by venturing into the nearest Chinatown to take advantage of similar sell-offs.
Anyways, here's this week's haul. 28 VCD's for $40 and 7 DVDs for another $20. The store was nice enough not to charge me tax, either, which is the first time they've ever done that, especially considering they're one of the few sellers of legit DVDs in the entire mall!
And for about $1.43 apiece, some of these can afford to suck.
DELTAMAC reissue VCDs:
MERRY CHRISTMAS (Leslie Cheung, Karl Maka)
WINNER TAKES ALL (Alan Tang, Olivia Cheng)
THE PERFECT MATCH (Frankie Chan)
MR. SMART (Kent Cheng)
COUP DE GRACE (Michelle Reis, Nat Chan, directed by Yeun Cheung Yan)
TO SPY WITH LOVE (Teddy Robin, Nina Li)
LOST SOULS (Bill and Lydia)
WHO'S THE CROOK (Anthony Tang, Sandy Lam)
THREE AGAINST THE WORLD (Teddy Robin, Andy Lau)
Also From Deltamac VCD
GIVE THEM A CHANCE (2003, Andy Hui, directed by Herman Yau) Saw a trailer for this years ago and thought it had potential.
From Mei Ah VCD
THE LION ROARS (Cecilia Cheung, Louis Koo)
RUN DON'T WALK (Ti Lung, Richard Ng, remake of THREE FUGITIVES, itself a remake, none of which bodes well, but we'll see)
TWINKLE TWINKLE LUCKY STAR (Anita Yuen, Nat Chan, Christy Chung)
KUNG FU KID (1994, Chin Ka-lok)
THE DAY THAT DOESN'T EXIST (Anthony Wong)
From Universe VCD
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE (Charlie Yeung, Wu Chien Lien, Max Mok)
ONE EYE OPEN (
not in the database. Yet.
)
THE SWORD OF MANY LOVES (Leon Lai, Sharla Cheung)
STAR RUNNER (Vaness Vu, Andy On)
TIME AFTER TIME (1992,
not in the DB, though it came up in a recent thread regarding the mysterious credit "M.B.S." which appears here several times, as it does in a couple of other films from the period. This is a not-bad remake of Petersen's SHATTERED from the year before it)
From Megastar/ChinaStar VCD
YESTERYOU, YESTERME, YESTERDAY (Eric Tsang, Petrina Fung, plus I'm a huge fan of the director)
CRAZY WOMEN (Sandra Ng, Ng Suet Man, another title poorly represented in the DB. Hope to change that in the weeks ahead)
PUBLIC TOILET (Fruit Chan, ditto above)
Others
BOXER'S STORY (Yuen Biao, Gloria Yip)
THE SASSY CLASSMATE (beach-set horror comedy not in the DB. Watched it today; pretty bad, but lots of swimsuits, for what it's worth)
MY SASSY BOYFRIEND (Cheung Tat-ming, Fennie Yuen, directorial debut of editor Wenders Li) Kinda surprised this one's not in the DB, but I guess it will be soon.
STUNNING REVELATION (Gabriel Harrison, Nicola Cheung, not in the DB)
MY WIFE CAN FIGHT (Wayne Lai, Jade Leung, added VCD sleeve scan to the DB entry)
EYE FOR AN EYE (Angie Cheung, Michael Tong) This is one of the rare Hong Kong remake/steals that actually IMPROVES on the original in some ways, in this case the original being John Schlesinger's same-named 1996 movie starring Sally Field. Angie Cheung is fantastic in this!)
And of course, I just couldn't go shopping without picking up a little Simon Loui. In this case:
HONG KONG SPICE GALS (Simon Loui, Diana Pang Dan) Watched this yesterday. Horrible movie. Simon's OK as always, but what a complete mess this is. Desperately needed a Cat. III rating to make it even remotely interesting. Oh well, can't win 'em all, Simon!
SEAMY SIDE OF LIFE II: CRYING STARS (Simon Loui, Anita Chan)
And finally, the seven DVDs (all originals, factory sealed, at about $2.86 apiece. Is niiiice!)
TOUGH COP INSIDE (Modern; more Simon!)
GIGOLO & WHORE II (Universe; more Simon...YAM!)
MIDNIGHT CALLER (Widesight, Michael Wong, Diana Pang Dan) According to STSH's review, one needs to have the frame-by-frame button at the ready.
DREAM LOVERS (old Megastar; Chow Yun-fat, Brigitte Lin) Can't believe this still has the original $24.95 sticker on the back)
IRRESISTABLE PIGGIES (Mei Ah; Karen Mok, Michelle Reis)
HOCUS POCUS (Deltamac reissue; Lam Ching-ying, Stephen Tung) Not much in the DB for reviews, but looks like this was a modest box-office hit at the time)
NO COMPROMISE (Universe; Danny Lee, Do Do Cheng)
I really need to avoid this shop in the week ahead, but it will be difficult. Moreso if they further reduce the remaining stock.
I had some more to use on other titles 
I wish my collection of them where even remotely close to that, but my 14 or so Cirterion titles doesn't even come close, not that it matters though, haven't had time to watch the onces I own yet anyway 
