Synopsis
Released to critical acclaim in 1997, the year of the Hong Kong handover, Fruit Chan’s “Made in Hong Kong” was praised as an anarchic masterpiece, a powerful distillation of urban alienation and youthful despair.
Moon (Sam Lee) is a small-time triad, stuck in an endless cycle of pointless violence with no hope of escape. After he and his friends witness the suicide of a young girl, they embark on a journey to deliver two letters she had on her when she died.
Produced on a shoestring budget, with non-professional actors and using discarded film reels for stock, the film has been rescued from obscurity and fully restored in 4K in time for its 20th anniversary in 2017 , thanks to the Far East Film Festival, in collaboration with Andy Lau’s Hong Kong production company, Focus Film.
Special Features
Limited Edition O-card Slipcase [2000 Units]
1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a 4K digital...
Released to critical acclaim in 1997, the year of the Hong Kong handover, Fruit Chan’s “Made in Hong Kong” was praised as an anarchic masterpiece, a powerful distillation of urban alienation and youthful despair.
Moon (Sam Lee) is a small-time triad, stuck in an endless cycle of pointless violence with no hope of escape. After he and his friends witness the suicide of a young girl, they embark on a journey to deliver two letters she had on her when she died.
Produced on a shoestring budget, with non-professional actors and using discarded film reels for stock, the film has been rescued from obscurity and fully restored in 4K in time for its 20th anniversary in 2017 , thanks to the Far East Film Festival, in collaboration with Andy Lau’s Hong Kong production company, Focus Film.
Special Features
Limited Edition O-card Slipcase [2000 Units]
1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a 4K digital...
- 7/5/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Hong Kong International Film Festival
HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's indie wunderkind Fruit Chan ("Made in Hong Kong", "Durian, Durian") has always had an affinity for those in the dregs of society. But his newest -- and most esoteric -- film literally takes us into crap and filth for a surreal allegory about life and death. The grainy, somewhat verite picture follows several loose story lines that transport the viewer across the globe and into the public urinals and toilets of India, New York, Korea, Beijing and Hong Kong. While it hardly sounds like an appetizing proposition, "Public Toilet" is far from a disgusting crawl through the muck.
Always provocative and visually interesting, Chan's nonmainstream sensibility means he'll likely never make a "Lethal Weapon" sequel. But what he does possess is a distinctive vision and personal voice. Like his other works, a grim reality is juxtaposed with impressionistic vignettes that see beauty even in the grottiest places.
As usual, his characters are absolute outsiders. Underscoring the point, our nominal narrator is a young man born and abandoned in a communal loo in Beijing. The old woman who raised him is dying, so he goes off in search of an elixir to cure her. The journey takes him to Korea, where a pair of young fishermen find a beautiful girl (or is she an ephemeral spirit?) living inside a seaside Porta-John. Later, the Beijing youth goes to New York, where he gets mixed up in a drug deal gone bad in a Manhattan washroom. There are also two South Asian friends who live above and work in a Hong Kong lavatory and take their first trip to India.
Common to all the stories are the basic elements of birth, death and rebirth. Chan's basic metaphor is an obvious one -- life itself is a journey through the digestive tract of existence. Then we die and shuffle off this mortal, um, colon. And lest you think it's all about waste, Chan injects moments of intense and tender emotions that remind you manure is what fertilizes another generation of life -- and with it, love, redemption and hope.
The search for healing drives all the characters through their real and psychological wandering. Even if the narrative is confusing and fuzzy, Chan's powerful theme resonates through a kinetic camera that dares to go where no one wants to. The showstopper here is a sort of latrine-cam that travels underneath the floor and down the trough of a Chinese outhouse's cesspool.
Produced on a minuscule budget, with the technical shortcomings to prove it, "Public Toilet" nevertheless demonstrates Chan's eye for arresting images and guts for fearless politics. In a cold hard city of commerce -- we're talking Hong Kong here -- it's heartening to see a filmmaker willing to do dirty work for no money.
PUBLIC TOILET
Digital NEGA and KTB Entertainment present a Nicetop Independent Ltd. production in association with Golden Network Asia Ltd.
Credits:
Director: Fruit Chan
Screenwriters: Fruit Chan, To Kee
Producers: Fruit Chan, Sungkyu Cho
Executive producers: Doris Yang, Taesung Jeong, Carrie Wong
Directors of photography: Lam Wah-chuen, Wong Man-wan, Henry Chung
Art director/costume designer: Ben Luk
Music: Cho Sung-woo
Editor: Tin Sam-fat
Cast:
Dong Dong: Tsuyoshi Abe
Tony: Ma Zhe
Kim: Jang Hyuk
Cho: Cho In Sung
Ocean Girl: Kim Yang-hee
Sam: Sam Lee
Indian Boy A: Raheel Amjid Habib
Indian Boy B: Ahmad Khale
Running time --102 minutes
No MPAA rating...
HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's indie wunderkind Fruit Chan ("Made in Hong Kong", "Durian, Durian") has always had an affinity for those in the dregs of society. But his newest -- and most esoteric -- film literally takes us into crap and filth for a surreal allegory about life and death. The grainy, somewhat verite picture follows several loose story lines that transport the viewer across the globe and into the public urinals and toilets of India, New York, Korea, Beijing and Hong Kong. While it hardly sounds like an appetizing proposition, "Public Toilet" is far from a disgusting crawl through the muck.
Always provocative and visually interesting, Chan's nonmainstream sensibility means he'll likely never make a "Lethal Weapon" sequel. But what he does possess is a distinctive vision and personal voice. Like his other works, a grim reality is juxtaposed with impressionistic vignettes that see beauty even in the grottiest places.
As usual, his characters are absolute outsiders. Underscoring the point, our nominal narrator is a young man born and abandoned in a communal loo in Beijing. The old woman who raised him is dying, so he goes off in search of an elixir to cure her. The journey takes him to Korea, where a pair of young fishermen find a beautiful girl (or is she an ephemeral spirit?) living inside a seaside Porta-John. Later, the Beijing youth goes to New York, where he gets mixed up in a drug deal gone bad in a Manhattan washroom. There are also two South Asian friends who live above and work in a Hong Kong lavatory and take their first trip to India.
Common to all the stories are the basic elements of birth, death and rebirth. Chan's basic metaphor is an obvious one -- life itself is a journey through the digestive tract of existence. Then we die and shuffle off this mortal, um, colon. And lest you think it's all about waste, Chan injects moments of intense and tender emotions that remind you manure is what fertilizes another generation of life -- and with it, love, redemption and hope.
The search for healing drives all the characters through their real and psychological wandering. Even if the narrative is confusing and fuzzy, Chan's powerful theme resonates through a kinetic camera that dares to go where no one wants to. The showstopper here is a sort of latrine-cam that travels underneath the floor and down the trough of a Chinese outhouse's cesspool.
Produced on a minuscule budget, with the technical shortcomings to prove it, "Public Toilet" nevertheless demonstrates Chan's eye for arresting images and guts for fearless politics. In a cold hard city of commerce -- we're talking Hong Kong here -- it's heartening to see a filmmaker willing to do dirty work for no money.
PUBLIC TOILET
Digital NEGA and KTB Entertainment present a Nicetop Independent Ltd. production in association with Golden Network Asia Ltd.
Credits:
Director: Fruit Chan
Screenwriters: Fruit Chan, To Kee
Producers: Fruit Chan, Sungkyu Cho
Executive producers: Doris Yang, Taesung Jeong, Carrie Wong
Directors of photography: Lam Wah-chuen, Wong Man-wan, Henry Chung
Art director/costume designer: Ben Luk
Music: Cho Sung-woo
Editor: Tin Sam-fat
Cast:
Dong Dong: Tsuyoshi Abe
Tony: Ma Zhe
Kim: Jang Hyuk
Cho: Cho In Sung
Ocean Girl: Kim Yang-hee
Sam: Sam Lee
Indian Boy A: Raheel Amjid Habib
Indian Boy B: Ahmad Khale
Running time --102 minutes
No MPAA rating...
This second installment in Hong Kong director Fruit Chan's "prostitute trilogy" -- the first was "Durian Durian", which played at Venice last year -- is lucid and free-flowing. The story, scripted by Chan, shows the havoc a girlish prostitute from mainland China wreaks on an overweight family in Hong Kong. It's a sharp, deceptively casual look at how immigrants from China are influencing Hong Kong daily life four years after the territory's return to Chinese rule. "Hollywood Hong Kong" screened recently in the main competition at Venice.
The film's neorealist approach, coupled with the current fascination for all things Asian, should interest art house distributors in the West. Chan's name, meanwhile, should guarantee sales in such upscale Asian markets as Japan and South Korea.
The story unfolds in Hong Kong's last shantytown, a rough-and-tumble place in the shadow of a newish development called Hollywood Plaza. Chu (Glen Chin) and his two sons run a small business roasting pork. Their life is humdrum, with their prize pig Mama -- whom they resemble in size -- providing the only entertainment. The family is befriended unexpectedly by a happy-go-lucky Shanghai prostitute, Tong Tong ("Suzhou River"'s Zhou Xun), whose girlish innocence brings joy into their lives.
The first hour sees Tong Tong ingratiate herself effortlessly into Chu's clan. She befriends the father and youngest son and sleeps with the older brother -- as well as their neighbor Wong, a would-be pimp. Then things turn much nastier. Tong Tong reveals that she is underage and hires a crooked lawyer to blackmail the two boys with a claim of statutory rape.
Performances are nicely understated. Although sex comes into the picture, Tong Tong mainly brings excitement and affection into the family's life. Even when it's clear that she's blackmailing them, they are slow to anger and prefer to let the situation ride. In fact, the three very fat, almost immobile lads seem impervious to anything.
The point of the film is to show how immigrants from China are bringing small-scale chaos to the lives of Hong Kongers. Pre-1997, modern Hong Kong was an influence on developing China. But now the vast, economically powerful motherland is changing Hong Kong. As the film makes clear, people rather than politics are influencing the territory. Economic migrants are bringing disorder from China and upsetting the balance of Hong Kong life.
The film is shot through with Chan's customary black humor. The comedy is more integrated than in previous works, though a body-disposal scene seems out of place. Bearing in mind the amount of comment that previous tampon-hurling and shit-throwing scenes aroused, it's tempting to conclude that Chan cheekily included this scene to irritate conservative viewers.
HOLLYWOOD HONG KONG
Capitol Films
Nicetop Independent Ltd. and Hakuhodo
A Movement Pictures Media Suits
and Nicetop Independent Ltd. production
in association with Golden Network Asia
Producers: Christine Ravet, Doris Yang, Kei Haruna, Sylvain Bursztejn, Fruit Chan
Director-screenwriter: Fruit Chan
Executive producers: Carrie Wong, Kimi Kobata, Sharon Harel
Director of photography: O Sing-Pui
Art director: Oliver Wong
Music: Lam Wah-chuen, Chu Hing-cheung
Costume designer: Jessie Dai
Editor: Tim Sang-fat
Color/stereo
Cast:
Tong Tong: Zhou Xun
Boss Chu: Glen Chin
Wong: Wong You-nam
Ming: Ho Sai-man
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film's neorealist approach, coupled with the current fascination for all things Asian, should interest art house distributors in the West. Chan's name, meanwhile, should guarantee sales in such upscale Asian markets as Japan and South Korea.
The story unfolds in Hong Kong's last shantytown, a rough-and-tumble place in the shadow of a newish development called Hollywood Plaza. Chu (Glen Chin) and his two sons run a small business roasting pork. Their life is humdrum, with their prize pig Mama -- whom they resemble in size -- providing the only entertainment. The family is befriended unexpectedly by a happy-go-lucky Shanghai prostitute, Tong Tong ("Suzhou River"'s Zhou Xun), whose girlish innocence brings joy into their lives.
The first hour sees Tong Tong ingratiate herself effortlessly into Chu's clan. She befriends the father and youngest son and sleeps with the older brother -- as well as their neighbor Wong, a would-be pimp. Then things turn much nastier. Tong Tong reveals that she is underage and hires a crooked lawyer to blackmail the two boys with a claim of statutory rape.
Performances are nicely understated. Although sex comes into the picture, Tong Tong mainly brings excitement and affection into the family's life. Even when it's clear that she's blackmailing them, they are slow to anger and prefer to let the situation ride. In fact, the three very fat, almost immobile lads seem impervious to anything.
The point of the film is to show how immigrants from China are bringing small-scale chaos to the lives of Hong Kongers. Pre-1997, modern Hong Kong was an influence on developing China. But now the vast, economically powerful motherland is changing Hong Kong. As the film makes clear, people rather than politics are influencing the territory. Economic migrants are bringing disorder from China and upsetting the balance of Hong Kong life.
The film is shot through with Chan's customary black humor. The comedy is more integrated than in previous works, though a body-disposal scene seems out of place. Bearing in mind the amount of comment that previous tampon-hurling and shit-throwing scenes aroused, it's tempting to conclude that Chan cheekily included this scene to irritate conservative viewers.
HOLLYWOOD HONG KONG
Capitol Films
Nicetop Independent Ltd. and Hakuhodo
A Movement Pictures Media Suits
and Nicetop Independent Ltd. production
in association with Golden Network Asia
Producers: Christine Ravet, Doris Yang, Kei Haruna, Sylvain Bursztejn, Fruit Chan
Director-screenwriter: Fruit Chan
Executive producers: Carrie Wong, Kimi Kobata, Sharon Harel
Director of photography: O Sing-Pui
Art director: Oliver Wong
Music: Lam Wah-chuen, Chu Hing-cheung
Costume designer: Jessie Dai
Editor: Tim Sang-fat
Color/stereo
Cast:
Tong Tong: Zhou Xun
Boss Chu: Glen Chin
Wong: Wong You-nam
Ming: Ho Sai-man
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
This second installment in Hong Kong director Fruit Chan's "prostitute trilogy" -- the first was "Durian Durian", which played at Venice last year -- is lucid and free-flowing. The story, scripted by Chan, shows the havoc a girlish prostitute from mainland China wreaks on an overweight family in Hong Kong. It's a sharp, deceptively casual look at how immigrants from China are influencing Hong Kong daily life four years after the territory's return to Chinese rule. "Hollywood Hong Kong" screened recently in the main competition at Venice.
The film's neorealist approach, coupled with the current fascination for all things Asian, should interest art house distributors in the West. Chan's name, meanwhile, should guarantee sales in such upscale Asian markets as Japan and South Korea.
The story unfolds in Hong Kong's last shantytown, a rough-and-tumble place in the shadow of a newish development called Hollywood Plaza. Chu (Glen Chin) and his two sons run a small business roasting pork. Their life is humdrum, with their prize pig Mama -- whom they resemble in size -- providing the only entertainment. The family is befriended unexpectedly by a happy-go-lucky Shanghai prostitute, Tong Tong ("Suzhou River"'s Zhou Xun), whose girlish innocence brings joy into their lives.
The first hour sees Tong Tong ingratiate herself effortlessly into Chu's clan. She befriends the father and youngest son and sleeps with the older brother -- as well as their neighbor Wong, a would-be pimp. Then things turn much nastier. Tong Tong reveals that she is underage and hires a crooked lawyer to blackmail the two boys with a claim of statutory rape.
Performances are nicely understated. Although sex comes into the picture, Tong Tong mainly brings excitement and affection into the family's life. Even when it's clear that she's blackmailing them, they are slow to anger and prefer to let the situation ride. In fact, the three very fat, almost immobile lads seem impervious to anything.
The point of the film is to show how immigrants from China are bringing small-scale chaos to the lives of Hong Kongers. Pre-1997, modern Hong Kong was an influence on developing China. But now the vast, economically powerful motherland is changing Hong Kong. As the film makes clear, people rather than politics are influencing the territory. Economic migrants are bringing disorder from China and upsetting the balance of Hong Kong life.
The film is shot through with Chan's customary black humor. The comedy is more integrated than in previous works, though a body-disposal scene seems out of place. Bearing in mind the amount of comment that previous tampon-hurling and shit-throwing scenes aroused, it's tempting to conclude that Chan cheekily included this scene to irritate conservative viewers.
HOLLYWOOD HONG KONG
Capitol Films
Nicetop Independent Ltd. and Hakuhodo
A Movement Pictures Media Suits
and Nicetop Independent Ltd. production
in association with Golden Network Asia
Producers: Christine Ravet, Doris Yang, Kei Haruna, Sylvain Bursztejn, Fruit Chan
Director-screenwriter: Fruit Chan
Executive producers: Carrie Wong, Kimi Kobata, Sharon Harel
Director of photography: O Sing-Pui
Art director: Oliver Wong
Music: Lam Wah-chuen, Chu Hing-cheung
Costume designer: Jessie Dai
Editor: Tim Sang-fat
Color/stereo
Cast:
Tong Tong: Zhou Xun
Boss Chu: Glen Chin
Wong: Wong You-nam
Ming: Ho Sai-man
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film's neorealist approach, coupled with the current fascination for all things Asian, should interest art house distributors in the West. Chan's name, meanwhile, should guarantee sales in such upscale Asian markets as Japan and South Korea.
The story unfolds in Hong Kong's last shantytown, a rough-and-tumble place in the shadow of a newish development called Hollywood Plaza. Chu (Glen Chin) and his two sons run a small business roasting pork. Their life is humdrum, with their prize pig Mama -- whom they resemble in size -- providing the only entertainment. The family is befriended unexpectedly by a happy-go-lucky Shanghai prostitute, Tong Tong ("Suzhou River"'s Zhou Xun), whose girlish innocence brings joy into their lives.
The first hour sees Tong Tong ingratiate herself effortlessly into Chu's clan. She befriends the father and youngest son and sleeps with the older brother -- as well as their neighbor Wong, a would-be pimp. Then things turn much nastier. Tong Tong reveals that she is underage and hires a crooked lawyer to blackmail the two boys with a claim of statutory rape.
Performances are nicely understated. Although sex comes into the picture, Tong Tong mainly brings excitement and affection into the family's life. Even when it's clear that she's blackmailing them, they are slow to anger and prefer to let the situation ride. In fact, the three very fat, almost immobile lads seem impervious to anything.
The point of the film is to show how immigrants from China are bringing small-scale chaos to the lives of Hong Kongers. Pre-1997, modern Hong Kong was an influence on developing China. But now the vast, economically powerful motherland is changing Hong Kong. As the film makes clear, people rather than politics are influencing the territory. Economic migrants are bringing disorder from China and upsetting the balance of Hong Kong life.
The film is shot through with Chan's customary black humor. The comedy is more integrated than in previous works, though a body-disposal scene seems out of place. Bearing in mind the amount of comment that previous tampon-hurling and shit-throwing scenes aroused, it's tempting to conclude that Chan cheekily included this scene to irritate conservative viewers.
HOLLYWOOD HONG KONG
Capitol Films
Nicetop Independent Ltd. and Hakuhodo
A Movement Pictures Media Suits
and Nicetop Independent Ltd. production
in association with Golden Network Asia
Producers: Christine Ravet, Doris Yang, Kei Haruna, Sylvain Bursztejn, Fruit Chan
Director-screenwriter: Fruit Chan
Executive producers: Carrie Wong, Kimi Kobata, Sharon Harel
Director of photography: O Sing-Pui
Art director: Oliver Wong
Music: Lam Wah-chuen, Chu Hing-cheung
Costume designer: Jessie Dai
Editor: Tim Sang-fat
Color/stereo
Cast:
Tong Tong: Zhou Xun
Boss Chu: Glen Chin
Wong: Wong You-nam
Ming: Ho Sai-man
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/4/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
HONG KONG -- "Little
Cheung" is the final film of Fruit Chan's trilogy set around the time of the former British colony's return to China. But far from making a straightforward docudrama about the historic 1997 handover, Chan uses the event as the basis for a pleasingly chaotic look at various low-end sections of society.
Chan's grungy, streetwise approach gives the film a more expressive quality than most Hong Kong films. Chan kick-started independent filmmaking in Hong Kong with "Made in Hong Kong", a low-budget movie that tied musings on Hong Kong's disconsolate youth to a triad crime theme. Although he was an inspiration to local filmmakers -- the territory now has an active indie scene -- Chan has avoided becoming a figurehead. Instead, he has dedicated his time to pursuing his own idiosyncratic projects.
"Little Cheung" completes the portrayal of working-class Hong Kong that Chan began with "Made in Hong Kong" and "The Longest Summer". Chan's aim this time is to show what children thought of 1997. But while the story nominally focuses on the eponymous Little Cheung, Chan jettisons any kind of traditional structure, forcing several disparate story lines to clamor for attention. This leads to a pleasing turmoil that effectively reflects the hyped-up nervous energy of the territory at that time.
Little Cheung, played by first-timer Yiu Yuet-ming, is the enterprising 9-year-old son of a cafe owner. Cheung befriends Fan (Mak Wai-fan), an illegal immigrant from China who hopes she won't be sent back when the territory returns to Chinese sovereignty. The two start a business pocketing tips from the cafe's takeout service, but immigration authorities catch up with Fan and deport her.
Chan gives equal time to three other narratives: Cheung's granny's affair with a famous opera star, Cheung's search for his brother and a big-headed young triad member.
The result is an impressionistic film that differs radically from the trilogy's earlier installments. The earlier films had triad stories to hang their social analysis on, although "The Longest Summer" had seen Chan occasionally break free from the confines of straightforward narrative. Here, he is confident enough to improvise around a theme, switching from story line to story line as the mood takes him.
The film continues to express Chan's worries that the traditionally tight Hong Kong family unit is coming apart at the seams. Focus is given by coverage of the true death of famous opera star Brother Cheung (no relation), whose family caused a media storm when they broke tradition to fight over his estate in the courts. Hong Kong's well-known obsession with making money also comes under the spotlight.
Chan's impressionistic approach is generally a success, and the film stands as the most mature of his trilogy, but the perspective is confusing. It's Little Cheung's story, but it is narrated by Fan, who cannot know many of the events in the boy's life. And a humorous scene in which a tampon is dropped into a triad member's drink seems misplaced amid the drama.
LITTLE CHEUNG
Nicetop Independent
and NHK Broadcasting Corp.
Producers: Doris Yang, Uedo Makeda
Screenwriter-director: Fruit Chan
Director of photography: Lam Wah-chuen
Production designer: Chris Wong
Music: Lam Wah-chuen, Chu Hing-cheung
Editor: Tin Sam-fat
Color/stereo
Cast:
Little Cheung: Yiu Yuet-ming
Fan: Mak Wai-fan
Running time - 115 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Cheung" is the final film of Fruit Chan's trilogy set around the time of the former British colony's return to China. But far from making a straightforward docudrama about the historic 1997 handover, Chan uses the event as the basis for a pleasingly chaotic look at various low-end sections of society.
Chan's grungy, streetwise approach gives the film a more expressive quality than most Hong Kong films. Chan kick-started independent filmmaking in Hong Kong with "Made in Hong Kong", a low-budget movie that tied musings on Hong Kong's disconsolate youth to a triad crime theme. Although he was an inspiration to local filmmakers -- the territory now has an active indie scene -- Chan has avoided becoming a figurehead. Instead, he has dedicated his time to pursuing his own idiosyncratic projects.
"Little Cheung" completes the portrayal of working-class Hong Kong that Chan began with "Made in Hong Kong" and "The Longest Summer". Chan's aim this time is to show what children thought of 1997. But while the story nominally focuses on the eponymous Little Cheung, Chan jettisons any kind of traditional structure, forcing several disparate story lines to clamor for attention. This leads to a pleasing turmoil that effectively reflects the hyped-up nervous energy of the territory at that time.
Little Cheung, played by first-timer Yiu Yuet-ming, is the enterprising 9-year-old son of a cafe owner. Cheung befriends Fan (Mak Wai-fan), an illegal immigrant from China who hopes she won't be sent back when the territory returns to Chinese sovereignty. The two start a business pocketing tips from the cafe's takeout service, but immigration authorities catch up with Fan and deport her.
Chan gives equal time to three other narratives: Cheung's granny's affair with a famous opera star, Cheung's search for his brother and a big-headed young triad member.
The result is an impressionistic film that differs radically from the trilogy's earlier installments. The earlier films had triad stories to hang their social analysis on, although "The Longest Summer" had seen Chan occasionally break free from the confines of straightforward narrative. Here, he is confident enough to improvise around a theme, switching from story line to story line as the mood takes him.
The film continues to express Chan's worries that the traditionally tight Hong Kong family unit is coming apart at the seams. Focus is given by coverage of the true death of famous opera star Brother Cheung (no relation), whose family caused a media storm when they broke tradition to fight over his estate in the courts. Hong Kong's well-known obsession with making money also comes under the spotlight.
Chan's impressionistic approach is generally a success, and the film stands as the most mature of his trilogy, but the perspective is confusing. It's Little Cheung's story, but it is narrated by Fan, who cannot know many of the events in the boy's life. And a humorous scene in which a tampon is dropped into a triad member's drink seems misplaced amid the drama.
LITTLE CHEUNG
Nicetop Independent
and NHK Broadcasting Corp.
Producers: Doris Yang, Uedo Makeda
Screenwriter-director: Fruit Chan
Director of photography: Lam Wah-chuen
Production designer: Chris Wong
Music: Lam Wah-chuen, Chu Hing-cheung
Editor: Tin Sam-fat
Color/stereo
Cast:
Little Cheung: Yiu Yuet-ming
Fan: Mak Wai-fan
Running time - 115 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 8/10/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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