Kozo's 2002 Roundup

     Hong Kong Cinema in 2002 will likely be known for its depressing returns, where neither a foreign or local film could make even a dent in the box office. However, there was a Shaolin Soccer-type "miracle" which once again reinvigorated the film industry. Thanks to the incredible box office of Infernal Affairs (and, to a lesser extent, Harry Potter and Hero), the Hong Kong Film Industry found hope for what seemed like the umpteenth time. With a strong story, remarkable acting, polished production design, and over 50 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, Infernal Affairs could easily be called the film of the year.
     However, Infernal Affairs was merely a remarkable example of a previously saturated Hong Kong genre, gloriously updated to current HK Cinema standards. Those standards themselves are still under debate, but the long-standing perception of Hong Kong as the anything-goes, zany Hollywood of the East is pretty much over. Hong Kong films follow a different tack now, and seem to be much more marketing-oriented than they previously were. Hot young stars inhabit all films regardless of previous box office success, and successful genres are copied to death. And, everything needs to look and sound good. The scattershot bullets and babes, kicks and kinks that so defined the cinema for years are long gone. Get over it.
     In their place, we have reimagined genre experiences, which isn't entirely a bad thing. Johnnie To hasn't made a crime movie in years, but his Milky Way crime thrillers paved the way for Infernal Affairs. Where once upon a time, the film was Hard Boiled, it eventually became The Longest Nite and then Infernal Affairs. The wacky comedies of the eighties have become the urban romantic comedies of the twenty-first century, and the horror genre has gone the Ring route.
     Thankfully, some good films do get made in there. In 2002, we've had The Eye, Three: Going Home and even the cheap, but not unworthy Sleeping with the Dead. The romantic comedy category gave us lots of middling fare (Dry Wood Fierce Fire, Mighty Baby), but Love Undercover and My Left Eye Sees Ghosts managed some surprises. And directors Fruit Chan, Riley Yip and Wilson Yip continued to do their own thing, sometimes within existing Hong Kong genres (The Mummy, Aged 19), sometimes reflecting older Hong Kong films (Just One Look), and sometimes coming completely out of nowhere (Hollywood Hong Kong).
     Among actors, Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai held on as dominant box office forces, but they're probably the only remaining members of the "old guard" of actors who can still draw at the box-office. Sammi Cheng continued to demonstrate her surprising box-office dominance, and is now arguably the most consistently bankable star regularly working in the Hong Kong Film industry. Miriam Yeung established herself as a bankable performer, and the Twins made a surprising showing. Given the fact that other popular young idols routinely ring up zero dollars at the box office (including Joey Yung and even Nicholas Tse), their impact shouldn't be dismissed. Louis Koo upped his bankability more than a few notches, and Cecilia Cheung recovered from a potentially crippling accident and even more potentially damaging press coverage.
     But there were failures, too. Hong Kong Cinema in 2002 was almost entirely devoid of one of its most celebrated fixtures: action. There were really only four major productions which boasted martial arts as a primary draw, and of those four only one was a period piece (Hero, which arguably isn't even a Hong Kong film). The other three films (Naked Weapon, So Close and The Touch) were western-influenced productions in terms of style, narrative, language, or a combination of the three. Sadly, all three were disappointments, and had prefabricated stories, tenuous leaps of logic, and remarkably uninteresting characters. The action in all three wasn't particularly bad, but the technical prowess in the action sequences only reinforced the utter amateurism of the screenwriting.
     If Infernal Affairs teaches us anything, it might be that a good story, fine production values, big stars, and terrific acting can carry a film to the box office winner's circle. That might seem like an obvious lesson, but given Hollywood's great successes (the entire filmography of Jerry Bruckheimer) it would seem to be a lost art. If Hong Kong Cinema is to fully recover at the box-office, it would be best to actually attempt some measure of overall quality lacking from films like The Conman 2002, The Peeping, Women from Mars or The Irresistible Piggies. Perhaps then Infernal Affairs could be seen as more of an "exceptional performer" than a "box office miracle."
     Or they could simply give Stephen Chow loads of money and let him do whatever he wants. That might work too.

Not seen..yet:
May and August, The Runaway Pistol, Shark Busters, Golden Chicken and Hero.