I have never ever been a fan of martial arts movie or dramas, but Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon by Ang Lee (2000) won me over with the lush sceneries and fluid camerawork. I especially loved the fighting scenes among the bamboo forests, the gentle sway of the bamboo shoots due to the moving breeze is similar to how Mu Bai and Jen “fly” and pit their skills against each other – it is graceful and with ease, yet definitely powerful.
For my response to Days of Being Wild by Wong Kar-wai (1990), I have created the following poster, using bold red as the background and the traditional Chinese characters of the movie title in the foreground.
I have created a poster as my response to Lust, Caution by Ang Lee (2007).
Air Hostess by Yi Wen (1959) is a straightforward movie about a lady’s career journey in being an air-stewardess, from the newbie brimming with hope and aspiration, then being frustrated and worn-out with work, and lastly, recognising the value of her work and taking pride in it.
The Butterfly Lovers (梁山泊与祝英台) is a well-known folklore in the Chinese history, along with The Legend of White Snake (白蛇传), Meng Jiangnu’s Bitter Weeping (孟姜女), Cowherd and Weaving Maid (牛郎织女), these four ancient love stories play an important part in Chinese literature.
I was a kid when I had my first exposure to The Butterfly Lovers. Flipping through a simple Mandarin Chinese storybook, the beauty of the story had me in awe, and also the relentless bugging of my mum with the question, “did they really turn into butterflies?”
“Oh 英雄本色! 好看! 周润发,很帅!”
My dad, despite his broken English, is a huge fan of war films and action flicks, prefers his movie appetite to be everything Western, seldom giving praises to Hong Kong movies or shows. A Better Tomorrow by John Woo (1986) is one of the rare movies which my mention of it garnered a positive response from him.
Infernal Affairs by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak (2002) is one of my favourite Hong Kong movies of all times.
I am not a huge fan of crime dramas, it is easy to get desensitized by crime-thriller plots, more so those that are made in Hong Kong – “the good versus the evil” plot is a widely used storyline for countless of movies and dramas.
