Men on the Dragon (2018)

A group of four telecommunications employees at Pegasus Broadband, headlined by Francis Ng in his most charming role in recent memory, begrudgingly join the company dragon boat team hoping ... See full summary »

Director:

Sunny Chan

Writer:

Sunny Chan

Stars:

Francis Ng, Chan-Leung Poon, Kenny Wong

2 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Francis Ng	...	Chan Lung
Chan-Leung Poon	...	Wong Suk Yee
Kenny Wong
Tony Tsz-Tung Wu
Jennifer Yu	...	Dorothy

Storyline

A group of four telecommunications employees at Pegasus Broadband, headlined by Francis Ng in his most charming role in recent memory, begrudgingly join the company dragon boat team hoping such a pledge of loyalty will keep them immune from encroaching layoffs. Under the tutelage of the pretty young no-nonsense coach, Dorothy (Jennifer Yu) they learn not just how to really race, but also to confront their own impending mid-life crises. From nagging families and infidelity to unrequited love and elusive Andy Lau concert tickets, myriad demons are exorcised as our bungling protagonists overcome the odds and take charge in this life-affirming comedy-drama.

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Genres:

Sport

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Release Date:

2 August 2018 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Man on the Dragon

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,306,358

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Development Fund of Hong Kong, One Cool Film Production, PJ One Cool Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1 (Dolby Surround 5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The directorial debut of screenwriter Sunny Chan

User Reviews

A Pure Hong Kong Local Genre Film Made the Most Successful Box Office Record of 2018

This film Man on the Dragon (2018) was mainly funded by Hong Kong government, Hong Kong Film Development Council (HKFDC) with HK$4,492,800(about 4 million HKD), thus it is purely a local genre film project without Mainland China funding.

We can find other successful local project The Empty Hands (2017) in terms of artistic achievement however The Empty Hands (2017) was a box office failure.

On the contrary, Man on the Dragon (2018) has still released in Hong Kong since August 2 and already earned more than 7 million HKD at present.

This film's protagonist is set as working class, especially blue collars. It is not like US films to take middle class/white collars as regular protagonists. Dir.Sunnyhahaha Chan stands with the working class people. It is one of positive and democratic aspects of this well made low budget genre film with Hong Kong local specialties.

The story is that an engineering department at telecommunication company Pegasus Broadband facing reconstruction and its aftermath(termination of contracts).

The protagonists 40 year old workers Chan Lung (played by the talented actor Francis Ng), Wong Suk Yee (Chan-Leung Poon) and William (Wu Tsz Tung Tony) and their boss Li Jia-tai (Kenny Tak Bun Wong) straggle to survive in the company by wining dragon boat race-strike under their own domestic difficulties with women affaires. Among all Hong Kong actors, the most charming actor is Francis Ng, and we can see this film as his master piece. His acting skill and its talent are fully harnessed in action comedy and its rude protagonist. We can find it quite attractive as a movie character.

Audiences laughed at his comical performance so many times and also enjoyed the Wong Suk Yee's cross generational love and annoying relationship with their dragon boat coach Dorothy (played by Jennifer Yu) who is around 25 years old.

The production is a standardised genre filmmaking with multi cameras and drone aerial photography. We can not find any defects in its production values. Japanese TV production can not achieve this cinematic quality of production. The mode of production is obviously different.

Sha Tin regional government and its community are in full support of this film production. Audience can enjoy the dragon boat at Shing Mun River until the end of the credit role.

This film structurally avoids Hong Kong audiences bad habit that they don't see the credit role and just leave after the end of story. In other words, audiences keep seeing the screen as long as the shots shown on the screen. This is what other Hong Kong filmmakers should learn to solve the habitual issue.

At the end of the story, audiences are highly satisfied with its happy end. It is not like the vague and powerless open ending of The Empty Hands (2017). The dramatic momentum is maintained until the end of the credit role. This is the director's insistence on his storytelling.

This film is a quality work and the most well made pure local film production of this year.