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Brattle Theatre Film Notes: Au Began His Career As a Cine- the 1980S

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Brattle Theatre Film Notes: Au Began His Career As a Cine- the 1980S Brattle Theatre Film Notes: au began his career as a cine- the 1980s. Hong Kong cinema Hong Kong, 2002. R. 101 min. matographer, working on films experienced a resurgence in the Cast: Andy Lau, Tony Leung Chiu Lsuch as “Where’s Officer Tuba?” 1980s and early 1990s with the Wai, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, in 1986 and “Chungking Express” in release of films like director John Eric Tsang; Writer: Felix Chong; Woo’s “A Better Tomorrow” (1986) Cinematographer: Yiu-Fai Lai; 1994. He started his dire c t o r i a l Pr oducer: Andy Lau; Direc t o r s : career with 1987’s “The Ultimate and “The Killer” (1989) both with ( Wai Keung Lau, Alan Mak ) Vampire” and has since worked on action star Chow Yun-Fat. The films movies like the “Best of the Best” w e re known for their chore o- series (1996), “Young and graphed action as well as the inter- ard-boiled and fast paced is D a n g e rous” series (1996); “The nal moral conflicts of the main char- one way to describe the acters. HHong Kong action thriller Duel” (2000); and “The Park” (2003). “Infernal Affairs.” is co-director, Alan Mak, also nfernal Affairs” also adds a told HKMania.com that the level of intrigue. While the he film, which runs from Nov. movie has some very exciting 19 until Nov. 25 at the Brattle Hscript took three years to “I write. He said that the taste of the action scenes, the psychological TTheatre in Cambridge, herald- Hong Kong public shifted fro m impact of the duplicitous ro l e s ed a new wave of Hong Kong cin- action movies in the 1980s to takes its effect on the undercover ema for many critics. It combines romantic comedies in 1990s. He cop and gangster. In a Sept. 24, terse storytelling with sleek film- said that he believes that the suc- 2004, review, The New York Times making. Directed by Andrew Lau cess of “Infernal Affairs” is due less film critic Elvis Mitchell describes it and Alan Mak, it tells the story of to nostalgia for Hong Kong cine- as a “vibrating terseness that is usu- two moles – one, an under- ally found in the writer and cover cop in the mob for the director Michael Mann’s work. last 10 years (Tony Leung as The picture uses disconnect- Chan Wing Yan) and the other, edness and alienation to drive a mob member planted into the drama, rather than the police force (Andy Lau as depending on bullet-time Lau Kin Ming, not the director) c h o reography to keep the – and the cat-and-mouse hunt audience riveted or, for that to find the other. matter, awake.” riginally released in he intersection of action 2002, the film grossed and drama remains one of Omore than HK $55 mil- Tthe unique facets of films lion in the Hong Kong territory like “Infernal Affairs.” Both ele- alone – the second-highest ments remain integral in the grossing film in Hong Kong his- overall feel of Lau and Mak’s film, tory (“Shaolin Soccer” holds the m a ’s glory days, but to a new approach to a familiar genre. rather than tacked on. One of the re c o rd) – and spawned two characteristic marks of Hong Kong sequels, “Internal Affairs 2” and he films of action and the action films, the formula hasn’t “ I n f e rnal Affairs 3.” In trying to stories of cops and gang- translated effectively in the recent explain the film’s success, co- Hollywood films by cro s s o v e r d i re c t o r, Andrew Lau, told the “Tsters contributed to the rep- utation of the cinema of Hong director John Woo (think “Mission: F rench Web site, HKMania.com, Kong, and one turned in the 1980s Impossible II” in 2000 and “Hard that they tried to preplan every of many films on the underworld,” Target” in 1993). It will be interest- scene, accounting for lighting, said Mak. “There is a certain amount ing to watch whether Mart i n action and details. of nostalgia in ‘Infernal Affairs,’ but Scorsese will be able to capture e began this with a com- I believe that the public is espe- the tautness of “Infernal Affairs” in plete script, thoroughly cially sensitive to a new approach his adaptation called “The “Wcut out, specifying the of a familiar kind, with the intro- D e p a rted,” slated for a 2006 lightings of each scene,” said Lau. duction of a pinch of Buddhism release. and new topics like the choice, “It is rare in the cinema of Hong - Jason Nielsen Kong. We also tried to inform the pity, of chivalrous spirit.” public, of us to bring some closer, he stylized action sequences to make it again proud of the cine- of “Infernal Affairs” remain true ma of Hong Kong.” Tto the Hong Kong cinema of.
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