I think Hong Kong Cinema - at least, the Hong Kong Cinema that many of us are used to thinking of it as - is now dead. Pretty much nothing can survive locally. Ancillary markets are necessary for anything to be profitable, and locally, the only viable ancillary market is television. Downloading has eaten into both video and box office sales. Right now, there’s so little margin for error, that filmmakers can’t really take risks.

China has long been considered the great hope for Hong Kong Cinema, but the numerous pitfalls make it tough going. I think think that Hong Kong Cinema will continue to exist without a clear identity for some time, until there’s some measure of consistent local success that helps define what truly makes a film “Hong Kong”. Until then, the films will always be catering to an outside market, e.g. North America, Europe, and yes, China. Hong Kong and China are connected, but I still think there is some small distinction between Hong Kong and Chinese film.

The other possibility is that Hong Kong as a territory will lose its identity, but that’s something that won’t happen for many, many years. Until then, I think we can still say that there are Hong Kong movies.

As for this site, I suppose it’ll continue to cover the films that get funded and released in Hong Kong. That is, until the people here grow tired or move on to other things in life. After that, I hope there are other sites that will be able to keep people informed.

Technically Painted Skin is mainly HK, with a HK director, but the cast is almost all Chinese, and it’s those performances that lift it out of being substandard.

It seems as if the trend will only increase, and nothing will save HK cinema unless China gets rid of the many flaws in its entertainment industry, because HK is unquestionably tied to China right now.

Speaking of running this blog, it’s now erroneous. Painted Skin was pushed back to October 2nd, and the 18th (that’s today) is bringing the Category III movie The Forbidden Legend: Sex and Chopsticks. I was originally going to post something last Friday to correct this error but I ran out of time.

Yvonne at Webs of Significance (http://webs-of-significance.blogspot.com/) interviewed Lau recently.

Hope it’s okay to mention another website on here!

In a weird way, the downturn in Hong Kong, has probably worked to Johnnie To’s advantage and maybe Francis Ng’s as well — though talented, they stand out even more with the dearth of new films.

I’m still finding it hard to believe that “The Moss” was the only HK film in the cinemas when I was there this year (a DVD of which is winging it’s way to me at the moment - along with “Sparrow” & “Shamo” - from your employers)

Get back to us here before Christmas if you can

And I’m more partial to Patrick Tam as Hong Kong’s Terence Malick. If I can think of proper Lau counterpart, I’ll post it later.

!? That came out of nowhere from me. What’s up with Lau being so prolific these days? I previously considered him the Terrence Malick of Hong Kong cinema. Or something like that. Anyway, it’s good to hear he keeps getting work.