HK Cinema - 1993
In my opinion, 1993 was the last truly great year
in HK films. Certainly many wonderful films have been made since then,
but not in the abundance that they came out in that year. Every year since
fewer and fewer films have been made and the quality has suffered.
There are of course a number of reasons for this
decline from the mid to late 90’s. One reason is clearly the widespread
video piracy that has made producing films financially unrewarding. On
top of this the films from the USA have become much more popular throughout
Asia and have eaten away at market share of HK films. The departure of
talent like Chow Yun Fat, Ringo Lam and John Woo has hurt as well. To a
larger degree though it is simply the natural cycle of events. By this
I mean the huge stars that made HK films so creative in the 1980’s have
aged or lost much of their inspiration. As of yet no one has really stepped
in to fill the void, but they will do so at some point.
Some of the films released in 1993:
C’est La Vie, Mon Cherie
Fong Sai Yuk I & II
Crime Story
Dong Cheng Xi Jiu
Bride with White Hair I & II
Last Hero in China
The Untold Story
Tai Chi Master
Boys are Easy
Kung Fu Cult Master
The East is Red
Green Snake
Project S
Butterfly and Sword
A Moment of Romance II
Iron Monkey
Blade of Fury
And many more. But my favorite would have to be
Heroic Trio. The teaming up of Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Chung and Anita Mui
as three super heroines is inspired. The film so perfectly captures the
essence of HK film for me; wonderfully stylish, imaginative action scenes,
moments of zany humor and a huge amount of heart.