From Made in Hong Kong to Anita, 12 classic films that defined Hong Kong cinema in the past 25 years and shaped a generation of moviegoers’ memories
- Featuring stars including Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Sandra Ng, Stephen Chow and Donnie Yen, the films on this list have all left their mark on Hong Kong cinema
- Notable directors include Fruit Chan, Wong Kar-wai, Samson Chiu, Stephen Chow, Johnnie To, Wilson Yip and Dante Lam
On the cusp of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty, we look back at some of the films that particularly echoed public sentiment at the time of their release and left a lasting legacy on both Hong Kong cinema and the collective consciousness of the city.
1. Made in Hong Kong (1997)
It is a quirk in the exceedingly commercial nature of Hong Kong cinema that some of its most historically influential films were made on a tiny budget.
The film overcame its outsider status to win both the best picture and best director prizes at the 1998 Hong Kong Film Awards.
2. In the Mood for Love (2000)
3. Infernal Affairs (2002)
The identity crisis experienced by Hong Kong people over the city’s transition from a British colony to Chinese rule finds its most intriguing form of expression in this utterly engrossing undercover police thriller – or at least that’s how most critics and academics agreed to interpret the film.
4. Golden Chicken 2 (2003)
But director Samson Chiu Leung-chun’s sequel to his 2002 hit Golden Chicken did strike an unusually emotional, almost cathartic chord with audiences when it opened in Hong Kong cinemas during the Christmas period in 2003 – shortly after the city lived through one of its most traumatic episodes, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), earlier that year.
5. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
Stephen Chow Sing-chi made his last undisputed classic to date in this martial arts comedy.
Having completely won over his home crowd with the beloved sports comedy Shaolin Soccer just three years prior (with a box office take of HK$60 million), the king of comedy then narrowly eclipsed his own local record with Kung Fu Hustle’s HK$61 million.
6. Election 2 (2006)
Johnnie To Kei-fung’s Election won best picture at the 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards, although there’s a valid argument to be made that this direct sequel is the far more historically significant film of the two.
Unquestionably one of the best gangster epics in Hong Kong’s cinema history, this exceptionally violent crime saga about the power tussles in the criminal underworld also proves inadvertently prescient in its portrayal of the protagonists’ ill-advised persistence for a democratic election system under Chinese rule.
7. Ip Man (2008)
8. Gallants (2010)
While it didn’t crack the top 10 in that year’s local box office rankings, the underdog drama was an audience favourite that paved the way for new directors to confidently stake their claim at the city’s top film awards in the years to come.
9. Cold War (2012)
10. Unbeatable (2013)
Before he turned his back on the Hong Kong market to become the go-to director for patriotic action blockbusters in mainland China, Dante Lam Chiu-yin made one movie that connected with the city’s audiences more thoroughly than any of his gritty crime thrillers ever did.
11. Ten Years (2015)
Notably, the film was pulled from cinemas at a time when every screening was still selling out. Now, with the national security law in place, such a film would not even get close to being shown publicly.
12. Anita (2021)
The social unrest over the past few years has convinced many people to bid farewell to their home city and driven quite a lot of others towards nostalgia.
It grossed a remarkable HK$61.3 million in the last 50 days of 2021 – before cinemas were shut down again by the Omicron wave in early 2022.
