An interesting piece on Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and insights into future movies...

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/349/2005/09/06/60@17291.htm

Good to know Tony shares my thinking about Gong Li's terrific performance, probably my favorite scene in the movie. I feel like Andrew Lau is underrated by everyone.

I agree - she was great and it's good to see her back on the big screen. I look forward to seeing her in Memoirs of a Geisha.

I really feel that Tony Leung is the true definition of a movie star, harkening back to the days of glamourous Hollywood in the 40s and 50s. Unbelievable charisma and an aire about him that exudes confidence and charm. I don't think I've seen a movie that he didn't make better for being in it.

Gaijin84 wrote:I really feel that Tony Leung is the true definition of a movie star, harkening back to the days of glamourous Hollywood in the 40s and 50s.

Thanks for the point to the excellent CRI article. I couldn't agree more about Tony Leung. He is a terrific actor, can do drama, comedy and, to an extent action. He simply becomes the character he depicts, submerging himself into the role.

I was thinking about some of his movies after reading the article and comments--he supplies whatever a role needs: quiet class, raucous humor, tough guy grit, flasy decadence. He can do just about anything on screen--a real star.

I feel like Andrew Lau is underrated by everyone.

Andrew Lau kind of reminds me of America's Peter Hyams in a way, another director who's also a cinematographer, and a man whose films run the gamut from enjoyable, glossy high-concept programmers (2010, TIMECOP, THE RELIC, NARROW MARGIN) to painfully misguided glossy high-concept programmers (THE MUSKETEER, SOUND OF THUNDER, STAY TUNED).

Some of Lau's best work pre-dates INFERNAL AFFAIRS in films like the YOUNG & DANGEROUS series, TO LIVE & DIE IN TSIMSHATSUI, AGAINST ALL and even STORM RIDERS and LEGEND OF SPEED. But his good films are mitigated by an equal number of frustrating misfires: WESLEY'S MYSTERIOUS STORY, THE DUEL, DANCE OF A DREAM (especially this one!), THE PARK, and others. I tend to believe that the success of INFERNAL AFFAIRS (at least the first film) is due in large part to Lau's collaboration with Alan Mak.

But I digress...

Nice article on Tony Leung, though. What a class act.

Not sure if anyone here has heard it, but here's a link (swiped from another forum) to a free MP3 download of an interview Leung gave to Leonard Lopate on WNYC Radio. It's very informative, and it expands on many of the issues broached in the China Broadcast article:

http://wnyc.vo.llnwd.net/o1/lopate/lopate080505b.mp3

By the way, it's interesting that Tony Leung's favorite performance of his is none other than his shortest performance in any movie.

Back to Andrew Lau (because he's cool), I did read that he is almost single-handedly responsible for the jarring, blurry, flashy photography of the first part of Chungking Express (the part with Brigitte and Takeshi). Now, Lau's first part strikes me as more visually distinctive than Christopher Doyle's contribution to the Tony Leung + Faye Wong segment, although both adapt to the storytelling. I think he is probably 1 of 2 or 3 best active HK directors of his generation.