Hong Kong renaissance man who is best known for his acting work, but also directed quite a few films. Definitely not the most notable or distinguished director, but if you like a decent comedy and/or action flick, Tsang has you covered.
Movies
Aces Go Places II
A typical Lunar New Year comedy. Take a large ensemble cast, a completely nonsensical plot (though it appears to be a sequel to an old Shaw Bros classic) and a trio of comedy directors to helm the project, and what you end up with is some trademark Hong Kong comedy chaos. After defeating a group of malicious landlords in the 70s, Kung and Kin grow apart and become sworn enemies. They still live in Hong Kong 40 years later, selling phones in competing stores, but they try to trip up each other's business all the time. When a wealthy businessman tries to buy up all the stores in their quarter, it seems they'll be forced to work together once again. The quality of these comedies tends to vary, 72 Tenants of Prosperity ends up somewhere in the middle. The constant bustle is quite amusing and there are some decent gags, but the jokes can be pretty childish too and the film's a pretty big mess with lots of ups and downs. Decent filler, but impossible to recommend unless you know what you're getting yourself into.Read all
A decent Tsang film, although there's very little here that sets it apart from other Hong Kong comedies of that era. There's a lot of silliness, a negligible plot with romance, crime and drama influences and a can of actors who're not really out to win any prizes. It's short, easy and effective entertainment though.
Those Were the Days
A rather plain coming of age drama that sticks to the script a little too closely. Some typical hurdles in the lives of a couple of young teens make up the meat of this film, but Eric Tsang probably wasn't the best guy to direct it. He is a better at comedy and clearer genre work, the drama here feels a little forced and overworked. Not a terrible film, but a little hard to recommend.
A somewhat atypical Hong Kong crime flick. Hong Kong cinema isn't known to be very edgy, and with Eric Tsang directing I was expecting a lighter, more humorous affair. I was quite surprised then to find a pretty grim and gritty police flick with very few redeemable characters. Sadly, the execution never really matches the film's intentions. Two cops get themselves into quite a bit of trouble. They don't feel they earn enough for the job they are doing, so when they apprehend a gangster and see a chance to embezzle his money, they jump at the opportunity. Their sudden increase in wealth doesn't go unnoticed by others, and it doesn't take long before they become the target of an investigation. With Andy Lau and Tony Leung in the lead, I had some expectations, but their performances were quite weak. Tsang doesn't really know how to translate the gritty story to the screen and even though there are some interesting twists and shocking reveals, they never have the necessary impact. An interesting failure, but a failure nonetheless.Read all
