Hong Kong Cinema 2010 – Part One

While it’s easy to get teary-eyed when one remembers the vibrancy of Hong Kong cinema twenty years ago, 2010 was a reminder that there’s still highlights to be enjoyed albeit within far leaner pickings. As with the past fifteen years, Western imports – especially all-conquering Hollywood blockbusters – ate up the majority of box office dollars and the runaway train of hype that hurtles alongside this.

2010 started as the previous year had ended: with James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ sitting atop the top ten with little sign of weakening. The 3D extravaganza would always offer Hong Kong’s movie going public something that local films could never hope to compete with, but that said, its final gross of HK$170million is quite incredible. Even with the 3D price inflation taken into account, this was another example of the Hollywood juggernaut crushing all in its way with spectacle that left Hong Kong films quaking in their boots. It’s commonly thought that ‘Jurassic Park’ heralded the beginning of this modern era of complete Western dominance and there is little hope of the tide turning with ‘Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part One’ likely to be unstoppable until at least the middle of January.

That, depending on your position, is the bad news. The idea that the local industry was ever as prolific as it was twenty years ago feels like the imaginings of a madman. Yet financially and artistically, fans had Hong Kong productions to savour. 2010 was perhaps the year when Donnie Yen cemented his position as the number one box office draw, a position he should hold at least while the current love of martial arts pictures and swordplay flicks. ‘Bodyguards & Assassins‘, though released in December 2009, continued to draw crowds clocking in at just shy of HK$20million by the end of its run in S.A.R. not to mention impressing in the nascent Mainland market. It’s intention to be more of a high brow historical epic was recognised by various Asian film awards though anyone looking for real Donnie Yen action would be seriously disappointed.

Daniel Lee‘s ‘14 Blades‘ was a moderate success during Chinese New Year and was actually a rather slick swordplay feature with, yes, Donnie Yen. By no means a masterpiece, but alongside ‘True Legend‘ gave us some good old-fashioned action. The latter, released at the same time, was a return for Yuen Woo-Ping as director and choreographer. It also featured that star-who-never-quite-was Vincent Zhao – remember when he was being labelled ‘The New Jet Li’, circa 1994? – and gave both a popular comeback. Whether or not this means Zhao will be given more action hero lead roles is open to question, but it certainly cannot hurt to have a physically adept performer during this martial arts cinema renaissance.

The old traditions of Hong Kong cinema’s New Year release slot continued and the early part of the year had a handful of competing comedies. After the huge success of ‘All’s Well, Ends Well 2009’, we were greeted with – guess what? Yes, ‘All’s Well, Ends Well 2010’ reunited the same cast as its puzzlingly popular predecessor and had most of the same jokes. Another nostalgia-fest released at the same time  proved even more popular, becoming one of the highest grossing local films of the year. ‘72 Tenants Of Prosperity‘ was a semi-sequel to that 70s cultural icon ‘House Of 72 Tenants’ and filled its running time with countless cameos and in-jokes. The mix was a pretty entertaining one and marked the beginning of a busy year for Jacky Cheung who would contribute a few more significant films to be mentioned later.

To be continued…