As much the story about Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao's rise from Peking Opera performers (known as the "Seven Little Fortunes" that also included the likes of Corey Yuen and Yuen Wah), under the guidance of Master Yu Jim-Yuen, to Hong Kong cinema legends as much as it is the downbeat portrayal of an ancient art during its last dying breath. Master Yu is appropriately then played by his student Sammo Hung and while director Alex Law along with co-writer/partner Mabel Cheung may have had to tone down the strict guidance Yu inflicted upon his students, the tale is a touching one. Evoking the era beautifully without being overbearing with period details, Law evokes ideas of childish innocence allowed to be that before maturity enters and also the somber for classical Chinese opera that is being shifted aside in favour of the new, partly Westernized era. The young, unknown talent makes one suitably forget we're watching real life portrayals of today's superstars but Law also rightly chooses Sammo Hung's performance as a centerpiece, with outstanding results. Yu clings on to his art, for better or worse and clinging on means sticking a live turtle under one of his bed poles, symbolism that is thoroughly winning. While he sends his students on their way to good times, Painted Faces undoubtedly paints a sentiment that you can't help but feel to down about. It's easy to handle that however, I guarantee you that. Old friend and struggling stuntman Wah is essayed by Lam Ching-Ying, a performance so felt by the end due to a key sequence set at the Shaw Brother's movie studio. Cheng Pei-Pei also appear as Master Ching of nearby Peking Opera School, a role possibly tailored after Lam Ching-Ying real life master Madam Fan Fok Fa.

Sammo ended up winning the Best Actor trophy at the Hong Kong Film Awards and David Chung's cinematography on the film was also rewarded.

King Hu's final film sees him returning to some of the spiritual and ghostly side of his storytelling, as also seen in Legend Of The Mountain. In no way a reference work for the legendary filmmaker, there are also those that are not blessed to go out on a semi-decent note. Joey Wong plays a ghost being prevented to go either to heaven or hell thanks to the King Of Yin & Yang's disruptions. She encounters a happy, a bit horny scholar (Adam Cheng) but he gets possessed by the Yin & Yang King so hope to restore peace in the spirit world rests on the shoulders of a monk (Sammo Hung)...

With its stylistic heart in the right place, King Hu shows plentiful of his typical sweeping elegance which in turn leads into some fairly well-honed instinct for creepy atmosphere. This particular Wuxia world is filled with dread as it is being disturbed and all beings above, middle and below seems to be forced to co-operate in order to restore spiritual peace. Not a missed opportunity but leaning towards a standard one in execution, while Painted Skin doesn't hit the mark, it provides a decent breath of fresh air in the Wuxia craze of the era. Wu Ma, Lau Shun and Lam Ching-Ying also appear.

A Shaw Brother's downer, centering on a doomed relationship between Hsia (Cheung Lai-Ping) and Liu De Fa (Ngaai Dik, aka Eddie Chan from Man On The Brink). An aimless, ignorant and downright crazy guy, he cuts off a finger to show his undying love and somehow gets Hsia's family to approve of the marriage. But his way of showing love leads to abuse, even after Hsia rightfully leaves him...

Shot in drab and realistic settings, while downbeat, director Gam Bing-Hing know it's a valid cinematic choice to bring nothing but pessimism to the table. However the script he helped co-write doesn't bring enough nuances for one rather slow piece of drama. Statements are overly clear quite early on and when no further development comes out of the character traits, the title Pale Passion really does begin to resemble unfortunate poignancy. A raw, haunting energy does make the proceedings semi-interesting at times as director Gam effectively underplays violence by first employing hardly any score but also by depicting the acts realistically. Co-starring Elaine Kam.

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Raising eyebrows by casting Hong Kong cinema cop Danny Lee as Piggy (known as Stanley as well), the son of a pig farmer father (Ku Feng), his adventures in the city working for a, believe it or not, parking service is still a rather uneventful 90 minutes. There are good-hearted notions of Piggy spreading warmth and courage wherever he goes, in particular when pushing friend Parkman (yes, played by Parkman Wong) who's head over heels in love with frequent parker Stella (Woo Mei-Yee). When a bunch of false US dollars lands in Piggy's lap, it's his irrational behaviour, him forgetting he is of lower class that gets put to the test but some rather evil shenanigans towards the end culminates in a "I learned something today..."-speech that further diminishes the chance of Angela Mak's movie to matter. You can't say Mak has created an offensive product however. Peter Yang, Stuart Ong and Shing Fui-On also appear.

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Sylvia Chang's second directed feature and a fine accomplishment to boot, detailing the enduring friendship between Wan An (Chang), Ming (Cora Miao) and in the middle the man they both love (George Lam). Told in flashback as the two women reminisce about life that has past them, the deeper into the passion and emotions they get, the bleaker the truths will become...

Jingle Ma contributes splendid mood via his cinematography and the art direction by William Cheung gets immediately noticed via its elegance because of it. But this is not your pretty, empty triangle drama (would basically be a Yonfan movie then) but Chang's slow, hands-off style combined with the skill to make her script take flight way beyond the soap opera it threatens to be makes Passion totally immersing. Sparsely scored by Lowell Lo but filled with spine tingling tension as the wrong people meet in secret and is witnessed by the people on the receiving end of hurt, scars are continually open in our female characters, scars that may never have been healed as the continuing present day scenes tells us. The leading ladies are both wonderful, getting to be gorgeous and vulnerable and while George Lam is as empty as ever, he has a rapport with Cora Miao that works because these two characters never really bonded. They were bound by tradition while the only passion that appeared was the forbidden one. One of the most poignant lines in the film (If I get one thing from you, I expect more) drives home the message of Passion and seals the deal on Sylvia's terrific drama. Appearing as Wan An's mother is Wong Nam while also Stuart Ong, Rachel Lee and May Lo can also be seen.

Expectedly colourful (literally) and messy (not figuratively) coming from Clarence Fok (Naked Killer). There's an idea here that could've worked as Fok takes off-beat, mad and ordinary characters into gangster violence scenarios but attention to playing with the story structure is absent. With direction all over the map, Fok's time spent with uninteresting characters and out of nowhere dance numbers seals the fate on a movie best summarized as "what the...?". Madness in the best of ways if you're really forgiving but Fok's only attention to the movie arrives when it's not really him steering it. Action director Lau Shung-Fung makes sure to create slight, acrobatic gunplay that only adds up to so many minutes that I bet they gathered it all in the cinema trailer! Starring Simon Yam, Christy Chung, David Wu, Teresa Mak, Kingdom Yuen (representing the all out mad out of the characters), Ben Ng (as the psycho, gay triad gangster. He does however bring out some very minute, actual colourful characteristics to the film) and Wong Hei (Ng's co-star in The Accident).

Gordon Lau is a serial killer with a taste for women. Michiko Nishiwaki (My Lucky Stars, Magic Cop) a fashion photographer with vivid nightmares of his deranged killing acts. Uninspired Category III exploitation ensues.

It has to be said that director Parkman Wong (who acted in the notorious Dr. Lamb the same year) does set the mood for the exploitation fans during the opening as he combines disgusting images of cock fighting with women brutality but that is as "creative" as he gets. The rest of the narrative is a tedious low-budget mix of dreadful acting (even from curly haired Lau), good to poor fight action, a lesbian sub plot and lame comedy involving only one stupid cop this time around. Despite all those bankable aspects, I doubt that the Dr. Lamb and The Untold Story crowd would chalk up Passionate Killing In The Dream as a favourite. I sure didn't.

A weird, slow moving attempt at doing an arthouse Category III slasher-thriller. If Joe Hau actually had something to tell in his subtle directing ways, then the slow pace would've been one thing but we're left with only a few select interesting points that do not add up to coherent whole. You'd have to be blind not to see that. Carrie Ng is killing off the scum of the earth and wouldn't you know it, her next door neighbour is a fellow psycho. Psycho Love should've been the alternate title.

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Based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck, who had movie adaptations of her work done before such as The Good Earth (1937) and Dragon Seed (1944). Daughter of Christian missionaries, her focus on writing about China, being somewhat of an outside view looking in, is transferred by Yim Ho (Red Dust, Homecoming) in his adaptation of Pavilion Of Women (book appeared in 1946 originally but was banned in China well into the 90s). Very much a pet project for star/co-producer/co-writer Luo Yan, the film tells the story of how Western influence can make actual, human emotions manifest themselves within a strict Chinese 1930s society, on the brink of being invaded by the Japanese. That influence is embodied by doctor/priest Andre (Willem Dafoe)...

A rich tapestry of themes and emotions...on paper, even without having read the book the treatment here feels watered down, merely ticking off the excellent content in a standard manner. Shot with fair grand style by Poon Hang-Sang (Kung Fu Hustle), Yim Ho certainly has never been about making it easy for his audience to feel but in fact, we never do outside of some tender moments between Madame Wu (Luo Yan) and Father Andre in the latter sections. Corny symbolically towards the very end as well, Yim Ho isn't necessarily out of his league here shooting in English (where all Chinese speak English naturally) but it all is felt only on the surface and makes one want to read the book only, never to touch the film again. Willem Dafoe is likeable enough and has passable chemistry with Luo Yan. Shek Sau is particularly weak as the husband, an overly clownish creation that also has the actor suffer a pretty poor dubbing job (which is strange because in the TVB series Triumph In The Skies, the actor was spouting English left and right that would've ranked as sufficient for Pavilion Of Women). John Cho and Yi Ding co-stars.

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