The undisputed empress of Hong Kong cinema. Hui is the only female HK director to nurture a fruitful career that spans multiple decades. While some of her films struggle to marry drama and genre influences, her oeuvre as a whole is worthy of discovery.
Movies
The Postmodern Life of My Aunt
The first Swordman film marks the start of a classic martial arts trilogy. Maybe it's not quite as famous in the West, but if you like martial arts this is a very easy recommendation. Not that big of a surprise when you know the film combines the talents of King Hu, Hark Tsui, and Siu-Tung Ching, some of Hong Kong's greatest and biggest action directors. The plot is quite intricate and detailed, but at its core, it is really very easy to follow. An important document is stolen from the Imperial Library. The guards are fired right away and the emperor employs the services of Ling to retrieve the document. Ling accepts his mission, but he isn't the only one looking to get his hands on the stolen pages. Swordsman is a fun blend of the old and the new. On the one hand, it's easy to see the Shaw Bros legacy, but you can also find clear indications of what 90s HK martial arts would grow into. The action scenes are on point and the plot is solid, it's just that the runtime is quite long and the pacing a little lacking. Good fun though, and essential viewing before watching the two sequels.Read all
Not the greatest anthology. Don't be fooled by the names involved, I know they include some of the biggest Hong Kong directors from the past few decades, but the anthology itself is quite rigid and singular. Only Tsui Hark dares to do something different, the rest all went for sentimental throwbacks. Much like their Chinese counterparts. The stories are pretty simple, Sammo Hung reminisces about classic martial arts training, To looks at the stock market, Ann Hui digs up the old school life and Patrick Tam finds two lovers torn apart. Hark is the only one who had a bit of fun, throwing us inside a mental hospital where doctors and patients are too alike to distinguish. I'm not a fan of nostalgia and sentimentality, many of the directors present aren't really equipped to deal with these themes either. It would've been a lot better if they'd stayed closer to their signature craft, that's what the anthology concept is for. A little disappointing, though I can't say I'm all that surprised. Hark deserves lots of props for his short though.Read all
Ann Hui's latest romantic epic turned out to be a bit of a snoozefest. And she has nobody to blame but herself, as the budget was clearly there. The cinematography is extremely polished, the score is refined, and the cast is filled to the brim with big names. And yet, the film completely loses steam during the second half. Weilong is a young girl who travels from Shanghai to Hong Kong to get a better upbringing. She goes to live with her aunt, but when she falls for the charms of Qiqiao her future is jeopardized. Qiqiao isn't very loyal and loves to sleep around, Weilong is madly in love though, and she is willing to give up her own happiness to marry him. Hui is very much a narrator, not so much a director. While the film looks very slick and polished, it lacks emotion and the romance nor the drama ever blossoms. That is rather problematic for a 2.5-hour film. The runtime is excessive, the characters feel flat and the ending really started to drag. It's a shame, as the potential for something better was clearly present.Read all
Ann Hui goes for the big guns here, but ends up making a rather cheesy and overly sentimental drama that fails to impress. It's as if she wanted to relive the heydays of Yimou Zhang's work, but lacked Zhang's talent to keep the sentiment under control. The result is an overly long film that drags things out unnecessarily. The Golden Era ends up being China's answer to Hollywood kitsch. Slow and overstated camera work, overbearing drama that lacks subtlety, a score that is a tearjerker's dream and an epic story that spans half a lifetime. And a 3-hour running time, so even when you aren't impressed by the film itself, you'll be hard-pressed to forget about it afterwards. It's not all bad though. The actors do a nice job and some stand-alone scenes do work well. The problem is that they're not highlights of climaxes within the film, put just part of the constant onslaught of drama. I'm not a big Hui fan to begin with, but at least her usual mix of character drama and genre cinema offers something unique, this film sadly doesn't. Read all
A very middle of the road crime flick by Ann Hui. Sadly the drama doesn't work that well, which depraves the ending from its power. The acting is decent, there are a couple of solid scenes and it's a rather inoffensive film, at the same time it's also completely forgettable. Okay filler, but nothing more than that.
I like a good anthology, but these more arthouse-oriented projects tend to disappoint. Beautiful 2012 managed to attract some interesting names, but the result is rather lackluster. None of the shorts really stand out and almost all of them felt rushed and underdeveloped, as if the directors sent in some leftovers. The concept is supposed to show the directors' visions on "beauty", but I only know because I read the liner notes. The shorts themselves don't communicate that at all, instead they are quite downtrodden and glum. I guess that's just what you get when you go for more arthouse-loving directors. Tsai started his Walker series here, his short is probably the best of the bunch. Kim's short is pretty decent too, with some nice shots here and there, Hui's entry is forgettable and Gu's one is the worst of the bunch. Relatively short and somewhat varied, but unless you are a completist like me there's not that much here.Read all
Somewhat tepid and simplistic drama by Ann Hui. The film looks nice for a 90s Hong Kong film, but the drama between a grandfather and his visiting grandson is hardly substantial. The acting is poor, the film is predictable and there's absolutely nothing that makes this one stand out. Not terrible, just forgettable.
The Shaw Bros didn't release many dramas, but with Ann Hui in the director seat that's what you're getting. At times it reminded me a little of In The Mood for Love, but the film lacks good direction and without any stand-out elements it's just another tepid drama in Hui's extensive oeuvre. Decent but way too basic.
Starts off as a social drama, turns into a crime flick during the second half. The problem is that the actors have no dramatic impact and that Hui is not much of a crime director. Both genres do little to strengthen each other, though the crime elements do improve the pacing of the film. It's not terrible, but unless you're a Hui or Fat fan it's a hard recommend.
Ann Hui doing social drama. I'm sure she means well, but she's just not very fit to direct these films. The actors aren't good enough (even Kang-sheng Lee disappoints), visually it's a complete graveyard and drama is too predictable and overwrought. The running time is the final nail in its coffin. A disappointing film, not Hui's best.
The handover is by far one of the most impactful events in (semi)recent Hong Kong history. The ripples of that moments are getting stronger every day, so I figured it might be interesting to see how the Hong Kong people felt about this historic moment back when it actually took place. That's not really what Hui's documentary is about though. Instead, Hui takes a trip down memory lane. Interviewing herself and some other people, you get a talking heads doc where the interviewees are mostly digging up old memories. These are mostly personal memories, so unless you've lived in Hong Kong, or you're a big fan of human interest, it's really not that interesting. The doc is only an hour long, but it still feels a little random and aimless. Hui tries to span the 40 years under British rule, it just doesn't really translate well. Some interviews are more interesting than others and the short runtime makes sure it's not a complete fluke, but I was hoping to see something more insightful.Read all
Pretty unattractive and tepid drama by Ann Hui. I'm not getting along very well with Hui's older work, though I had slight hopes because Song of the Exile featured Maggie Cheung. While Cheung's performance is fine, the rest of the film really isn't and even though it's pretty short, it still dragged a lot.
