4 Important Hong Kong New Wave Films

Hong Kong Film Production The term "New Wave" refers to a group of films made in Hong Kong between the late 1970s and the early 1990s. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the new wave cinema movement arose all around the globe as a rejection of conventional cinematic production techniques and narratives, which many young filmmakers saw as formulaic and played out. New wave films frequently rejected traditional narrative patterns in favor of non-linear storytelling focused on feelings rather than plot, employed non-professional actors, and experimented heavily with shot framing and filming.

However, Hong Kong's new wave cinema movement was arguably more constrained by financial considerations than its regional contemporaries, as many films were funded - primarily through pre-sales. It resulted in several crucial stylistic differences, including a tendency to stay within traditional genres, the casting of celebrity actors, and a lack of the stillness that made other foreign new-wave titles conceptually fascinating but challenging to watch. As a result, films from Hong Kong's New Wave are more down-to-earth and approachable than one might expect; you've probably seen many New Wave films without even realizing it.

The Exile Song (1990)

Ann Hui, the director, is one of the most well-known and celebrated faces of Hong Kong's first new wave, but Song of the Exile is easily ignored - in favor of her other films, such as 1982's Boat People. Song of the Exile addresses a wide range of social issues that are still relevant today. Song of the Exile is a compelling examination of diasporic subjectivities, migration, belonging, and familial silence, centered on Hueyin (Maggie Cheung), an overseas university graduate returning to Hong Kong from London, and Aiko (Lu Hsiao-fen), her Japanese immigrant mother.

A Brighter Future (1986)

If the entire film seemed to be identical to its opening scenes, A Better Tomorrow would still be regarded - as one of the best action films produced in the city. A Better Tomorrow isn't particularly deep romantic, or cerebral—ultimately, it's about a guy doing his best to do some good in his life—but its relative simplicity and emphasis on its characters' emotions are what endear us to them. Over-the-top action scenes—think seemingly invincible combatants and shooters with dual-wielding pistols—are just the icing on the cake. As a result, A Better Tomorrow single-handedly established the 'heroic bloodshed' genre, which has since become the global standard for action films.

Rouge (1988) (1988)

Anita Mui plays Fleur, a ghost from the 1930s who returns to the real world 50 years later in search of her long-lost lover (Leslie Cheung), whom she really can not find in the afterlife due to their suicide pact. She eventually forms an uneasy friendship with Yuen (Alex Man), a local newspaper writer, and his fiancee Chor (Emily Chu), who both promise to help her. Mui's elegant and otherworldly performance is one for the ages—to put it bluntly, ghostly. It's hard to imagine anyone else capturing Fleur's ethereally melancholy feelings of emptiness.

After all, who could comprehend her tragedy and her feelings? She comes from a different era.

Director Stanley Kwan was one of the most prominent figures to emerge from the second wave, and it's easy to see why with films like Rouge. 

The Chungking Express (1994)

Wong Kar Wai's career as a director began at the tail end of the new wave movement in 1988 with As Tears Go By, and there is some debate as to whether his work qualifies as new wave cinema. However, there is a reason why his filmography is so critically acclaimed and popular decades later. To many, Wong is the most important Hong Kong director of the modern era; his fondness for nostalgia and sentimental longing speaks to the people who live in this sometimes cold, sometimes too-fast city.

Chungking Express is a favorite of both critics and audiences. It is indeed lighthearted and approachable, with the saccharine sweetness of pop culture; the film tells two parallel and loosely connected stories about lovesick cops with odd quirks, and Wong himself says, "After the big stuff, heavily emphasized in Ashes of Time, I wanted to make a very light, contemporary experimentation, with some of the most stunning examples of Wong's signature step-printing technique on display, as well as the way he frames shots through hallways, around corners, and even using mirrors. The colors, of course! Every still from this film could easily be an art print, filled to the brim with fluorescent, isolating, despondent blues and the warmest reds and oranges imaginable. After all, there's a reason why Chungking Express is referenced - as a big inspiration for so many film production Hong Kong and international creatives.