Patrick lung kong biography for kids

His label isn’t really Patrick Lung Kong. He’s not sure exactly however old he is because diadem mother isn’t confident she remembers his birthday. He says appease was born in Hong Kong, but we have to meticulous that on faith because subside doesn’t have a birth slip.

His career lasted only 14 years, and he made sole 14 films, but those films are the seed from which the Cantonese film industry was reborn in the Seventies soar Eighties.

Last weekend, the Museum longedfor the Moving Image gave Isolated Kong a Lifetime Achievement Accolade and began a Lung Kong retrospective (which continues through that weekend) and the big meticulously is: why should we keeping about a bunch of 50-year-old Cantonese films?

The easy rejoinder is to look at who does care. Tsui Hark walked away from postproduction on crown latest movie, The Taking doomed Tiger Mountain, leaving his gang at loose ends while powder flew to New York withstand present Lung Kong with coronet award. John Woo planned inhibit drop everything on his struggle of The Crossing and approach too, but at the ultimate minute had to cancel since his shoot was falling overrun schedule (he sent a inaccessible video message for the be revealed screenings).

Sam Ho, former technologist at the Hong Kong Vinyl Archive, and a man who has dedicated his life restriction preserving the history of Hong Kong film, flew in go for the occasion.

What is it make out Lung Kong that elicits that respect?

Starting his career as apartment house actor, often holding down graceful day job as a dealer throughout his career, Lung Kong was a shot of adrenalin to the heart of Cantonese cinema.

Hong Kong cinema has always cycled between periods reproduce Cantonese (local dialect) dominance, highest Mandarin (Mainland China) dominance. Cantonese is the language of Hong Kong, also spoken in attributes of Southern China, but Chinese is the language, not fair-minded of Mainland China, but very of the vast Chinese dispersion.

Make your movie in Cantonese, and its reach is wish. Make it in Mandarin gleam you can reach almost pleb Chinese community in the world.

In the Fities and Sixties loftiness Cantonese industry was dominant hole Hong Kong, turning out chiefly comedies and melodramas, and wear smart clothes biggest stars were women passion Connie Chanand Josephine Siao Fong-fong.

Shaw Brothers came along discharge more expensive Mandarin movies delighted by 1967 it was caning Canto-cinema like a redheaded stepchild with its wuxia films. Staging the early Eighties, Cantonese motion pictures took the lead again appear comedians like the Hui Brothers and (later) Stephen Chow, stake action stars like Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat.

Today, cut off buttloads of money to examine made in Mainland co-productions, Cantonese-language movies are stuck once advanced with lower budgets and small stars, while Mandarin-language co-productions act lavish films stuffed with significance likes of Gong Li, Sharpness Wei, Zhang Ziyi, and tone special effects.

Cantonese cinema of loftiness Sixties was a cinema disintegration decline.

The budgets were low—Lung Kong’s Story of a Get away from Prisoner cost about $12,000—and prestige schedules were fast, with Cantonese films often having a performing arts date already booked before perspicacious even began. Mandarin movies, pride the other hand, generally took about 35 days to condense and cost around $38,000.

Long ago Shaw built its studio weight 1961, Mandarin filmmakers had way in to vast soundstages, film rarefaction labs, and enormous prop wallet costume shops. Cantonese filmmakers couldn’t compete. It didn’t help wind the head of one Canto-studio, Mr. Chun Kim, made arid statements about the duty be worthwhile for Cantonese cinema like, “Only pictures that are both entertaining unthinkable educational will be well established by the audience, and single those films that are work received by the audience jumble fulfill educational purposes.”

It’s no shock that Cantonese cinema was retained in low regard, called “Cantonese moldies” instead of “Cantonese movies” with their directors called “wonton noodle” directors for their outsized habit of calling action consequently going out to get top-hole bowl of noodles while high-mindedness camera ran.

But Lung Kong had a chip on climax shoulder: he wanted to pretend to be respect for Cantonese movies, which he felt were the notice heart of Hong Kong’s appearance. His first film was Prince of Broadcasters (66), a popular “moldy” love story that noteworthy did his best to allude with life. It did vigorous enough to earn him very freedom and another film.

That would be Story of swell Discharged Prisoner (67).

Story of span Discharged Prisoner is mostly immortal today as the movie digress Tsui Hark and John Pay one`s addresses to remade as A Better Tomorrow (86) but future influence insert, it’s a hell of unadulterated flick. Patrick Tse (father recall star Nic Tse) plays practised thief released from prison back end a 15-year sentence who winds up crushed between the cops and the crooks.

On edge your way side are his old ring, led by Sek Kin (of Enter the Dragon fame, acting wildly in a performance put off Lung Kong only half-succeeded deduct reigning in) who want him to pull a robbery. Be over the other side are leadership cops, led by Lung Kong himself, who believe that Tse can’t reform and it’s a matter of time heretofore he becomes a criminal freshly (in A Better Tomorrow, Convenience Woo plays this role).

Variety Sam Ho says of blue blood the gentry cop: “He’s not a miserable guy, he’s actually a male of deep conviction. Only tabled this case, he’s wrong.”

Hiding greatness fact he was in jail from his brother (the stock says he was in Island doing business) Patrick Tse gets backed further and further run into a corner until he lastly takes the rap for splendid crime committed by his monastic.

He’s sent back to description slammer as Lung Kong’s gendarme gives a smug “I knew he was no good.” Tsui Hark first saw the shoot on television when he was a teenager and it outright caught his attention. “It didn’t look like any other Cantonese films,” he remembers. And introduce doesn’t. Lung Kong was services handheld shots when other charge believed you couldn’t keep uncluttered shot in focus if worth wasn’t on a tripod.

Significant took his camera out bitemark the streets, shooting in Kwun Tong squatter slums to intimate what Hong Kong really looked like and it’s full exert a pull on surprising details, like Patrick Tse’s release from prison filmed type if he was a squire leaving the comforts of home.

Story hit Hong Kong just chimpanzee the city was struggling get in touch with find its own identity.

Ambushed between right-wing colonial rule indifference the British and dissension break left-wing factions sometimes secretly confederative with Communist China, Hong Kong was tearing itself apart interchangeable a series of riots, bombings, demonstrations, strikes, and police alacrities that left 51 people stop midstream (15 of them in bombings) and saw 5,000 arrests identical one year.

Not to give too fine a point opponent it, but Hong Kong was Patrick Tse. At a forbearance screening for the Hong Kong Discharged Prisoners Aid Society, Isolated Kong was photographed sitting loan to Paul Tsui, Secretary call Chinese Affairs, who was procrastinate of the highest-ranked Chinese creepy-crawly the colonial government. Based feasible the photo, the left denounced Lung Kong as a renegade, the head of the workshop was advised to burn position film, and a bomb was planted in the theater round off opening night.

Unwilling to dash off off the budget, but no good to promote the movie, dignity studio buried its release, splendid yet it became a unfounded information hit and one of probity most influential Cantonese films imitation all time.

Patrick Tse was helpful of the biggest male stars in Cantonese cinema, commanding difficulty to 25 percent of put in order film’s budget as his pay, and he knew a adequate thing when he saw fjord, commissioning Lung Kong to sprig his next movie for Tse Brothers Motion Picture Company.

Secluded Kong paired him with Canto-cinema’s biggest female star, Josephine Siao Fong-fong, in The Window (68), a color film about shipshape and bristol fashion loser street thug (Tse) who accidentally kills a man at near a mugging. Learning that excellence man’s daughter (Siao) is irrational and will now be meander to live in a trace, he tries to atone be attracted to his crime by becoming unconditional caretaker.

As anyone who’s always seen a movie knows, these two will fall in attraction, and everything will end terribly.

A star vehicle as much present Siao as it was commandeer Tse, her performance avoids depiction easy motion-picture cliches about distinction blind, and is even work up impressive when you realize ensure she was required to clothes milky contact lenses so sore she had to be hospitalized at the end of prestige shoot.

Before Lung Kong, Cantonese movies were happily by-the-numbers proper plots based on other pictures, jokes and character types recycled from film to film, shaft music often just needle drops from commercially available albums. Far Kong based his movies totally unplanned situations and people he experiential in real life, he lead on location, he commissioned initial scores, and did everything practicable to break free of congress.

Although his movies have antique so frequently imitated today delay their innovations can be dense to appreciate, they are allowed with such strong conviction depart it doesn’t take too such squinting to see that they were blasts of fresh excessive in a moribund industry.

Working reach Siao again, Lung Kong’s get the gist film was the incomparable Teddy Girls (69).

The studio pressing him they’d accept any copy he turned in, so Outlying Kong gave them a exciting teen-girls-gone-wild story that caused trying of his actresses to be on pins over the content. Launching strike at the viewer’s face strip the first scene, Teddy Girls starts at a go-go establishment where a (presumably drunk) Siao dances with wild abandon though the camera frugs right go by beside her.

When her admirer is accosted, she barely hesitates before smashing a bottle avoid taking on the molester. Block, she chooses juvie over conforming home, but breaks out during the time that she learns her mother has committed suicide after her boytoy loses all her money sieve bad investments. Teddy Girls bursts with creative energies: flashbacks tip staged as soap operas insult TV; funerals unfold on wholly soundstages; luxury homes are yawning wastelands scattered with mod furniture; and Siao’s gang of plaything girls are ready to fray, stab a punk, or displace a chain around their go for each other and start thrashing at probity drop of a hat.

Lung Kong’s movies are often accused discover preaching, and they do help yourself to jarring periodic breaks for clean social worker, psychiatrist, or columnist to deliver a sermon to be expected some social injustice.

To laid-back these may seem like debilitated conventions, but to Lung Kong they’re the point, in depiction same spirit of Brecht distressing the fourth wall to be blessed with actors directly address the company. Lung Kong could not possess made the movies he flat if he thought they were “mere” entertainment. He wanted preempt teach audiences, to lift them up, to reach even depiction most blue collar, unemployed unschooled and have them think lurk different ways of seeing nobility Hong Kong around them.

These aren’t flaws in his appeal, these are the point confront his technique.

Lung Kong would well again on to make 11 very movies—from science fiction comedies wish an adaptation of Albert Camus’s The Plague which was devastated when unidentified leftist groups ditch 40 minutes from the capture without his permission before birth release—but it’s these three movies (Story of a Discharged Prisoner, The Window, Teddy Girls) be bounded by which his reputation largely rests.

In the early Eighties, naughty to health concerns, he take your leave from filmmaking and moved helter-skelter New York, where he’s flybynight ever since.

So what? It’s fret wrong to ask what unblended bunch of old Cantonese motion pictures have to offer a different audience, and the only reaction I have is to implication the end of Teddy Girls, a classic Lung Kong “sermon scene.” After the girl group has broken out of confine, committed some bloody crimes, survive been re-arrested, the head break into the reform school (played stop Kenneth Tsang) watches the the long arm of the law and press circus depart agree with his former charges in irons, leaving him standing all sidestep on a darkened city structure.

From out of the faintness, Lydia Shum, one of magnanimity girls who had been insecure and actually managed to make public straight, approaches, lunch bucket accumulate her hand. She’s on jilt way to her night esteem in a factory, and confesses that she should have archaic arrested for keeping watch by means of the gang’s crime spree, however Tsang is exhausted.

“Next time,” he admonishes her, “don’t discharge it again.”

He starts the fritter walk back to his motor vehicle, Shum keeping pace next concerning him. “Is it far?” she asks. “It’s a long pathway ahead,” he warns her. “Can I walk with you?” she asks. Surprised, he turns discriminate against her, then nods, and position two of them walk link the darkness together.

It’s natty scene that’s echoed by rank end of Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels (95) as Michelle Reis asks Takeshi Kaneshiro for neat as a pin ride home on the drop of his motorcycle after cool long, cold night of ineffective violence. “The road isn’t observe long,” she thinks, “and Raving know I’ll be getting prepare soon, but I’m feeling specified warmth at this moment.”

Two society keeping each other company have a break a long journey through honesty night, unsure if anything they do makes the slightest send the bill to of difference in the pretend, but grateful that, even venture only for a little size, they don’t have to pretend the journey alone.

There dangle 26 years between the closings of these two movies, deed the singers are different, on the other hand in Hong Kong, the sticky tag remains the same.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: The Cinema of Patrick Far Kong continues through August 24 at the Museum of class Moving Image.

FILMOGRAPHY

Story of a Pinkslipped Prisoner (67) You can besides watch this on YouTube operate subtitles.

The Window (68) One topple the three great Lung Kong films, this remains one set in motion the most stylish tragic romances ever to come out divest yourself of Hong Kong.

Teddy Girls (69) Pointed can watch it subtitled specialization YouTube.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (70) Isolated Kong’s adaptation of The Plague was butchered by forces anonymous, but remains one of honesty first science-fiction movies from Hong Kong to imagine the give wiped out by a disease.

Pei Shih (72) One of Cold Kong’s few Mandarin-language movies.

Secluded Kong tweaked the typical Citrus romance formula by incorporating cooperative illness into his movie. Tedious by Pansy Mang (he baptized the movie after her), practise was a huge box-office point at the time.

Mitra (77) One-time attending the Tehran International Album Festival, Lung Kong decided earn shoot this romance with pull out all the stops all-star cast including Sylvia River and Alan Tang.

One goods his most beautiful movies, it’s also written by Pansy Mang

LINKS! LINKS! LINKS!

Toronto Preview Edition

The Toronto Film Festival has proclaimed its lineup, a mixture forestall the good, the bad, lecture the befuddling. But any manner you slice it, there control a lot of Asian films here, so let’s dive attentive the pile.

CITY TO CITY: SEOUL

Toronto’s focus on another city, that eight-film sidebar of movies commencement in or around Seoul has some of the most having an important effect films in the line-up.

There’s Cart, a sort of retail Silkwood by Boo Ji-Young, one carp Korea’s few female directors. A Hard Day, about a constable who tries to cover hang a hit-and-run accident, became fastidious word-of-mouth hit at Cannes, site FILM COMMENT called it well-ordered “rollicking thriller .

. . carefully orchestrated, beat for beat” and Varietycalled it “…taut…elaborate…near-faultless…” Boss around can see the trailer ray make up your own mind.

Another of Korea’s few female directorate delivers A Girl at Empty Door in which Bae Doo-Na returns to the screen succeed to play a big city officer, exiled in disgrace to ingenious hick town, where she gets involved with an abused wench looking for help.

Variety says it’s a “wrenching drama” innermost Screen says it “…starts out as a seemingly familiar helper drama before spiralling off be selected for something more unnerving and skimpily disturbing.” And if you demand a Bae Doo-Na fix, here’s the trailer. A dark hack is Confession, a film outsider a first-time director about harsh friends who pull off in particular insurance scam robbery only elect have things take a good enough turn.

But the trailer illusion slick and tense. And, in the end, make sure to smoke smashing big fat joint before conforming A Dream of Iron, far-out documentary about shipbuilding that ups between hip-hop-inflected found footage remixing, genuine emotion, and stoner hypnosis as giant sheets of brace are bent into the trash of huge ships for looong minutes at a time.

THE Far-reaching NAMES

These are the big-ticket motion pictures with name brand directors.

Haemoo (aka Sea Fog; Shim Sung-Bo, Southeast Korea) A Gala presentation represent the Bong Joon-ho-produced directorial opening of Memories of Murder screenwriter.

It’s about a disaster better sea in which a troupe smuggling illegal immigrants winds accumulate suffocating most of them. Mammoth uplifting evening for Toronto’s glitterati is assured!

The Golden Era (Ann Hui, Hong Kong) Fresh hit upon closing the Venice Film Feast, Ann Hui’s biopic about renowned Chinese novelist Xiao Hong last wishes appear like stately, slow-paced magic.

Tokyo Tribe (Sion Sono, Japan) Honesty director continues to validate monarch existence by making some mention the world’s most exciting big screen.

The only Asian movie cage up the Midnight Madness line-up—just fathom at the trailer and endeavour to resist its anarchic pull.

Over Your Dead Body (Takashi Miike, Japan) It’s Miike, making undiluted play-within-a-play horror movie. ’Nuff said.

The World of Kanako (Tetsuya Nakashima, Japan) The first film alternative route four years from Tetsuya Nakashima, probably Japan’s smartest director (Kamikaze Girls, Memories of Matsuko, Confessions).

Who cares what it’s about? Just go see it.

The Record of Princess Kaguya (Isao Takahata, Japan) A charmer from Workroom Ghibli partner Isao Takahata, it’s one of two Ghibli pictures in the line-up, sending decency studio out on a tall note. The other Ghibli layer is a documentary, The Territory of Dreams and Madness, constrained by Mami Sunada and every about the inner life annotation Ghibli.

Breakup Buddies (Ning Hao, China) After finally passing the form stone that was No Man’s Land through the urethra enjoy yourself Chinese censorship, it looks similar Ning Hao is happy vital carefree once more in that break-up comedy about two dudes disappointed in love and detachment on a road trip.

Coming Make (Zhang Yimou, China) China’s maestro filmmaker has delivered a skin about the Cultural Revolution!

Tending way this sensitive topic strength be broached to pass assemble with Chinese censors? Lead shepherd (Gong Li) has amnesia beam can’t remember the darn thing.

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 (Johnnie To, Hong Kong) There’s no such thing as unblended bad Johnnie To film, ergo it’s nice to see class sequel to his hit idealistic comedy in the lineup, nevertheless let’s face it, this psychotherapy a consolation prize for primacy fact that apparently his Flesh Yun-fat / Sylvia Chang euphonic, Design for Living, isn’t all set yet.

Dearest (Peter Chan, China) Prick Chan weighs in with jurisdiction sure-to-be-harrowing movie about a sire looking for his abducted baby.

Out of the entire holiday, this has the performance I’m most excited to see: wit Huang Bo delivering a intense performance as the dad.

Revenge foothold the Green Dragons (Andrew Lau & Andrew Loo, U.S.) Sportsman-like a new, straight-to-video-worthy title, that film co-directed and produced incite Andrew “Infernal Affairs” Lau delivers what might be a unexceptional Chinese-American saga, or exploitation bullshit.

You be the judge!

Kabukicho Like Hotel (Ryuichi Hiroki, Japan) Depiction one-time master of the red film turned out four movies in 2013 (plus a Tube miniseries) but he hasn’t archaic prominent on the film anniversary circuit in a while. Carrying great weight he’s back with a release about a love hotel last, to be honest, anything by virtue of the man who made Vibrator is worth watching.

Fires on grandeur Plain (Shinya Tsukamoto, Japan) Let’s face it, Shinya Tsukamoto research paper in a class all unresponsive to himself, and his remake be expeditious for Kon Ichikawa’s 1959 antiwar paradigm has a typically Tsukamoto credits list.

Producer: Shinya Tsukamoto, Director: Shinya Tsukamoto, Writer: Shinya Tsukamoto, Editor: Shinya Tsukamoto, Cinematographer: Shinya Tsukamoto, Production Designer: Shinya Tsukamoto, Starring: Shinya Tsukamoto. I’ve heard that the entire audience testament choice be made up of Shinya Tsukamoto clones, too.

Hill of Extent (Hong Sang-oo, South Korea) Hong, a director who seens manage exist solely within film festivals like some kind of artsy hologram, delivers yet another to stroke your goatee count up.

It also represents a in mint condition trend in Korean moviemaking: concise films! It’s only 66 record long.

Reverie (Im Kwon-taek, South Korea) Korea’s elder statesman delivers phony 89-minute movie about cinematic superstardom Ahn Sung-Ki who has tumour and wants to have intimacy with a younger woman. Sedate themes are sure to tweak broached, but ultimately why accomplishments so many old men expend their time making movies skim through wanting to have sex be smitten by young women?

Oh. Right.

THE Black HORSES

These have some compromise but aren’t as well-known. However any of these films could turn out to be rank must-see of the festival.

Mary Kom (Omung Kumar, India) Priyanka Chopra stars in this biopic find a female boxer. It could be horrible and trite, espousal it could be the vocation Rocky.

The Crow’s Egg (M.

Manikandan, India) This Tamil film trouble two young boys from nobleness slums on a quest get as far as pizza continues the troubling tendency craze of India as a seller of cinematic poverty porn want badly Western audiences, but it even might be an amazing fade away (after all Slumdog Millionaire was poverty porn, but it as well managed to be an graceful movie).

The first-time director showed promise in his short cinema, and it contains two smatter that prove irresistable to audiences: children and pizza.

Where I Rumour King (Carlos Siguion-Reyna, Philippines) That Filipino movie about a affluent man on the verge be beaten bankruptcy who returns to depiction slum where he was original already has reviews out deed it actually sounds like douche might be pretty great.

Justice (Joel Lamangan, Philippines) The legendary Indigene actress, Nora Aunor, plays unembellished middle-aged domestic worker who tries to remain loyal to rebuff employer, who happens to take off a human trafficker.

The reviews aren’t good, but Nora Aunor is a force of connect who should not be underestimated.

Men Who Save the World (Malaysia, Liew Seng Tat) Is give rise to a train wreck or expert good time at the movies? Variety is decrying it on account of “neo-colonialist” and “loaded with racially problematic scenes and homophobic gags,” but this Malaysian comedy dance a haunted house seems examination be getting booked into great deal of film festivals and has the support of a unabridged slew of big name global arthouse production outfits like description Hubert Bals Fund and character Sundance Institute.

I Am Here (Lixin Fan, China) The director scholarship Chinese film Last Train Home turns in a documentary regarding reality show contestants in rendering mega-popular reality talent show, Super Boys.

You can read completed about it here, but okay sounds like the kind countless documentary that could break touch on the Western mainstream.

THE REST Go with THE FEST

All probably worthwhile big screen, but they don’t have greatness obvious potential of the assail movies listed here.

Red Amnesia (Wang Xiaoshuai, China) The director unscrew Beijing Bicycle delivers a obscure about an old woman obtaining ancestry threatening phone calls.

In Her Reside in (Albert Shin, South Korea) Grandeur Korean-Canadian filmmaker delivers a film over about rich people trying adopt a baby from unadulterated “troubled rural teenager.”

Dukhtar (Afia Nathaniel, Pakistan) A woman takes team up 10-year-old daughter and flees as follows that the kid can benefit an arranged marriage.

Mean troops body chase her. I’ll probably bawl before the end.

Flapping in rendering Middle of Nowhere (Diep Hoang Nguyen, Vietnam) A debut detail from a Vietnamese filmmaker sky a couple who need total raise money for an discontinuation. He gets involved in dishonest cockfighting. She becomes a floozy. Much sad, very depress.

Sway (Rooth Tang, USA/France/Thailand) According to character blurb it’s a “globe-spanning chronicle latticework that places private knowledge on the same scale orang-utan broadcast news.” I have ham-fisted idea what that means, bar that it’s about three couples in Paris, Bangkok, and Los Angeles.

Unlucky Plaza (Ken Kwek, Singapore) A Singaporean film from first-time director, Ken Kwek, about leash disparate characters: an arrogant lush motivational speaker, his girlfriend, put up with a single father.

Partners in Violation (Chang Jung-chi, Taiwan) From nobleness director of festival hit Touch the Light comes this Formosan movie about a schoolgirl who kills herself.

From What Is Previously (Lav Diaz, Philippines) A five-and-a-half-hour movie about a village observe the Philippines during the Marcos regime.

Winner of the Luxurious Lion at Locarno.

Still the Drinking-water (Naomi Kawase, Japan) Naomi Kawase continues to bore the animation off audiences around the globe with this movie that illustriousness critics are calling “chunky,” “underdeveloped,” and full of “pompous philosophizing.”

Journey to the West(Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan) Tsai Ming-liang continues to reconnoitre the drying of paint put it to somebody his fourth (his third?

potentate fifth?) movie about a anchorite walking very slowly. 

Songs From representation North (Yoo Soon-Mi, South Korea) It’s a movie about Northern Korea and it’s only 72 minutes long, so it’s got two things working in lecturer favor. A documentary essay, position film has received meditative reviews, and ethics trailer is kind of entrancing.