Synopses & Reviews
The rapid development of Hong Kong has occasioned the demolition of buildings and landscapes of historic significance, but film acts as a repository for memories of lost places, vanished vistas, and material objects. Location shoots in Hong Kong have preserved many disappearing landmarks of the city, and the resulting films function as valuable and irreplaceable archives of the cityandrsquo;s evolution.
Far more than a simple collection of movie locations, this book delivers a rare glimpse into the history of film production practices in Hong Kong. The locations described here are often not the most iconic; rather, they are the anonymous streets and back alleys used by local film studios in the 1960s and 70. They are the garden cafes with outdoor seating near the Chinese University of Hong Kong where moments of conflict in romantic comedies erupt and dissipate. They are the old Kai Tak Airport, which channels rage and desire, and the tenement housing, which splits citizens into greedy landlords and the diligent working class and embodies old-day communal values. Modern Hong Kong horror films draw their power from the material character of home-grown convenient stores, shopping arcades, and lost mansions found under modern high rises.
As in the films of Wong Kar-wai and Johnnie To, readers will drift and dash through the streets of Central to the districtandrsquo;s periphery, almost recklessly, automatically, or for the sheer pleasure of roaming. The first of its kind in English, this book is more than a city guide to Hong Kong through the medium of film; it is a unique exploration of relationship between location and place and genre innovations in Hong Kong cinema.and#160;
Review
Bordwell has written the first informed analysis of one of the greatest success stories in cinema history: Hong Kong, dominant force in Asian film making and an enormous influence on movies around the world...Bordwell loves Hong Kong movies and writes about them with enthusiasm and flair...[He] never loses sight of the fact that Hong Kong's movies, like Hollywood's, are an immensely successful transcultural, popular-culture art form--almost a contradiction in terms--epitomizing the mystery of the movies.
Review
One of our most inventive film scholars, Bordwell takes on one of the most over-the-top cinemas. For 20 years, the Hong Kong film industry was one of the world's most commercially successful and prolific. Recently Western critics have begun to recognize it as possessing a level of creativity almost equal to its financial success--despite its deep roots in genre traditions aimed at a mass audience, Bordwell examines how these elements interact in Hong Kong films to produce an art that is at the same time both popular and significant. He outlines the history, economics, and production techniques of the Hong Kong studios, particularly focussing on the genres that are most closely associated with their success (the kung-fu film, the swordplay epic, the gangster film, and the urban comedy)...By rooting his analyses in detailed readings of the film texts, he is able to convey--as much as mere words can--how this audaciously visceral cinema works...Bordwell is not well known outside academic film circles, but he should be; perhaps this volume will give him the exposure he deserves.
--Kirkus Reviews"Bordwell's volume is the most comprehensive Western work on its topic to date. Bordwell first considers how the Hong Kong industry has functioned in its local context, then examines how it captured the East Asian market and achieved cult status in the West...[Bordwell] demonstrates that academic film scholarship can itself be fun, spirited, and of interest to a broad audience."
--Neal Baker, Library Journal"The wildly popular Hong Kong cinema at last inspires an informed analysis. David Bordwell is the most valuable and readable film scholar in America. He makes a persuasive case for Hong Kong movies as great entertainment and sometimes great art."
--Roger Ebert, Pulitzer-prize winning film critic, Chicago Sun-Times"Planet Hong Kongoffers an exuberant appreciation of the life and times of Hong Kong's highly commercial--and rapidly-cut--cinema."
--Alissa Quart, Lingua Franca"David Bordwell unpacks the shameless delights of Hong Kong cinema with one eye on the vitality of pop culture and the other on surprises and discoveries which redraw the map of film form and grammar. Here, the road of excess really does lead to the palace of wisdom."
--Tony Rayns, film critic, Sight and Sound"In Planet Hong KongDavid Bordwell trains virtually every critical weapon in the cinema studies arsenal on a film industry that has, ironically, been marginalized by its own popular success. Film scholars will be grateful for its theoretical breadth and acuity; film fans will be happy with the graceful way Bordwell weaves into his chapters an extraordinary amount of telling anecdote; and filmmakers will be thrilled with his wonderfully revealing frame-by-frame analyses of Hong Kong cinema's most exemplary moments."
--James Schamus, producer and writer, The Ice Storm, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman, Ride with the Deviland the forthcoming Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"This is the first serious attempt by a distinguished American film academic in dissecting the popular aesthetics and entertainment precepts of the Hong Kong film industry. Planet Hong Kongwill certainly be an important work in the growing literature on Hong Kong cinema."
--Stephen Teo, author of Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions"Through rigorous and colorful analysis, Bordwell situates Hong Kong within the mainstream of world film history and, more specifically, as a parallel to a tradition most readers will already be familiar with: Hollywood. Planet Hong Kongwill be extremely precious for film students and film scholars alike."
--Bérénice Reynaud, Live Action Faculty, School of Film/Video, California Institute of the ArtsReview
In Planet Hong KongDavid Bordwell trains virtually every critical weapon in the cinema studies arsenal on a film industry that has, ironically, been marginalized by its own popular success. Film scholars will be grateful for its theoretical breadth and acuity; film fans will be happy with the graceful way Bordwell weaves into his chapters an extraordinary amount of telling anecdote; and filmmakers will be thrilled with his wonderfully revealing frame-by-frame analyses of Hong Kong cinema's most exemplary moments.
Review
A must-read for film students as well as Hong Kong movie fans. And for Hong Kong's moviegoers quick to dismiss mass-market productions as too commercial, uninspired or just plain lowbrow, Planet Hong Kongoffers inspiration for a rethink on Hong Kong's homegrown film industry.
Review
Rather than simply labeling Hong Kong action movies 'over-the-top,' [Bordwell] offers a close reading of the way they tend to use 'technical tricks'...calling attention to the use of the zoom lens and sound editing as rhythmic devices, rather than simple means of imparting information or telling a story...For all his emphasis on visual style, Bordwell also does justice to the important role of Hong Kong's stars.
Review
Planet Hong Kongis...like a conversation with a good friend. Bordwell's voice is personable and intelligent, and he makes history and film more palatable than The Cinema of Hong Kongdoes for the novice. Bordwell focuses on the art of entertainment...In doing so, the effects are understood beyond language and cultural barriers.
Review
Beijing Opera meets hyper-Eisenstein in this sublime orchestration of rapid (constructive) editing, percussive rhythms and patterns of stasis and dynamic movement. This more than anything is Bordwell's great contribution to the study of Hong Kong cinema, and the reason why this is essential reading.
Review
The wildly popular Hong Kong cinema at last inspires an informed analysis. David Bordwell is the most valuable and readable film scholar in America. He makes a persuasive case for Hong Kong movies as great entertainment and sometimes great art.
Review
Bordwell's volume is the most comprehensive Western work on its topic to date. Bordwell first considers how the Hong Kong industry has functioned in its local context, then examines how it captured the East Asian market and achieved cult status in the West...[Bordwell] demonstrates that academic film scholarship can itself be fun, spirited, and of interest to a broad audience.
Review
Planet Hong Kongoffers an exuberant appreciation of the life and times of Hong Kong's highly commercial--and rapidly-cut--cinema.
Review
David Bordwell unpacks the shameless delights of Hong Kong cinema with one eye on the vitality of pop culture and the other on surprises and discoveries which redraw the map of film form and grammar. Here, the road of excess really does lead to the palace of wisdom.
Review
This is the first serious attempt by a distinguished American film academic in dissecting the popular aesthetics and entertainment precepts of the Hong Kong film industry. Planet Hong Kongwill certainly be an important work in the growing literature on Hong Kong cinema.
Review
Through rigorous and colorful analysis, Bordwell situates Hong Kong within the mainstream of world film history and, more specifically, as a parallel to a tradition most readers will already be familiar with: Hollywood. Planet Hong Kongwill be extremely precious for film students and film scholars alike.
Review
[This book] is among the best of the recent batch of books on Hong Kong cinema. Much of this ground has been covered before, but Bordwell applies his formalist approach to a broad range of films while never losing sight of the crazy energy that makes them so likeable in the first place.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-319) and index.
About the Author
Linda Lai is an associate professor of critical intermedia art at the School of Creative Media, the City University of Hong Kong.
Kimburley Wing-Yee Choi is associate professor of critical intermedia art at the School of Creative Media, the City University of Hong Kong.
Table of Contents
Maps/Scenes:
Scenes 1-7, 1957-1980
Scenes 8-14, 1982-1992
Scenes 15-20, 1994-1997
Scenes 21-26, 1998-2003
Scenes 27-32, 2003-2007
Scenes 33-38, 2008-2012
Essays:
Hong Kong: City of the Imagination
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Linda Chiu-han Lai and Steve Fore
Here, There and In-between: Transitional Space in Hong Kong Movies
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Kimburley Wing-yee Choi
The Kid on the Street: Dai pai dong, Tenement Buildings, Public Housing
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Linda Chiu-han Lai
Many-splendoured Things: The Wharf, the Roof-tops and the Floating Population
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Linda Chiu-han Lai
Colonial Remains: From Non-place to Self-referential Simulacrum
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Lam Wai-keung
My Movie Scenes: A Directorandrsquo;s Impression of Home
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Derek Chiu (Chiu Sung-kee)
Victoria: Room with a View, or Unsettled History?
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Hector Rodriguez
Resources
Contributor Bios
Filmography