Dylan Cheung
@dylancheung
Writer and Cantonese–English translator. Sinophone and East Asian cinema, especially from Hong Kong. Contact: dylan.ym.cheung at gmail
Hidden Gems: The Arrangement, The Strawberry Statement, Last of the Mobile Hot Shots, Topaz, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, The Olympics in Mexico Best Chinese Film: The Arch Hidden Gem: Good Bye! Darling Best Director: Costa-Gavras (Z)
Student writer John Woo's top ten films of 1970, in no particular order, from the Chinese Student Weekly (29/1/1971): (1) Zabriskie Point (2) Z (3) The Damned (4) Woodstock (5) Cul-de-sac (6) M*A*S*H (7) Midnight Cowboy (8) Women in Love (9) Contempt (10) Medium Cool
It's been reported that Grace Chang, Hong Kong's preeminent Mandarin screen diva of the 50s, passed away this afternoon, one day shy of her 93rd birthday. Watch Mambo Girl and The Wild, Wild Rose to see her at the height of her powers.
Rare Jackie Chan sighting in Hong Kong yesterday at Nansun Shi's memorial service. Always fascinated by who in Hong Kong he'll still give face to, a list I'm sure gets shorter and shorter each passing year.
My favourites: "You've never been apart from her, so was your marriage certificate with your mistress from Taobao? Where's your dignity? How ugly" "How dare this scumbag show his face and take charge? Beat the fuck out of him instead!"
Hey, they restored Dennis Yu's The Imp, one of my favourite Hong Kong New Wave pictures.
RIP Nansun Shi. I feel framing her as a film producer undercuts her actual work though, which was primarily in distribution and administration, the non-creative side of the business of movies that's kinda boring but is ultimately what keeps it all afloat.
Walking into a shop and buying Shinji Aoyama's EUREKA like I'm in some AI slop nostalgia video about going to the video store or the mall.
The BFI and Variety with competing translations of Jia Zhangke's Tony Rayns Weibo post.
Tony Rayns trying to pull a dude in Stanley Kwan's Hold You Tight (1998)
RIP Tony Rayns, one of the few English-language critics who genuinely knew what they were talking about (most of the time) when it came to East Asian cinema, especially Hong Kong's.
Small update to my long drawn-out Patrick Tam translation project in light of the recent passing of Taiwanese actor Pai Ying: 'Death of a Hitman', the 8th episode of Hong Kong New Wave adjacent 1975 anthology series Superstar Special. Link after the jump.
My work on Arrow's Golden Princess releases will be slowing down from now on, but I still managed to do new subs for the first A Better Tomorrow (and all the songs are translated!). I can't maintain a standard I'm happy with in the time required anymore, and it'd also be nice to do other things...
While the rest of the audience was in stitches, there was a specific scene in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma that had me in tears, even though I couldn't tell you exactly why. When the protagonist, also a spectator, shared my reaction, I never felt so seen before in my life.
There's some real dorky shit in All of a Sudden but Hamaguchi makes it so life-affirming and humanist somehow. Also an airtight case for bilingualism and lesbianism.
Everything they say about Shinji Aoyama's EUREKA is true. Glad I waited and watched it at the movies and not on a 700mb avi file 20 years ago. Movies can break you to pieces and put you back together again, but you won't be the same.
The Samurai and the Prisoner keeps all of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's obsessions intact even as a big studio period drama. Best director working today.
Finally got to see Tang Shu-shuen's The Arch (1968). Incredible. Hong Kong cinema reaching a fork in the road as a new generation asserts itself: stoic tradition or something radical. Even more powerful now knowing what we know almost 60 years removed from when it was released.
Pretty sure I've messed up my back and neck forever from the seats I got for Silent Friend at Sydney Film Fest
Chung King-fai played Simon Yam's dad in the Ringo Lam segment of Septet: The Story of Hong Kong where Yam's character is an analogue of the director. Lam got his start training to be an actor under Chung and this was the final film for both of them.
Chung King-fai (1937–2026) King Sir was monumental in the development of drama and theatre in Hong Kong. He also led the acting classes at Shaw Brothers' acting school once it became jointly run with TVB, teaching acting to the likes of Chow Yun-fat, Johnnie To, Ringo Lam.
