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Among the notable crime films in Hong Kong cinema, “Infernal Affairs,” stands as one of the most influential, even inspiring an Academy Award-winning American remake by Martin Scorsese, “The Departed.” Yet, while the remake has its merits, the original remains a masterpiece in its own right. Whereas many of its contemporaries leaned heavily into stylized action, Lau and Mak opted for a more grounded picture that functions as a character-driven drama, building suspense through deliberate pacing. These qualities, along with its star-studded cast, earned the movie critical acclaim upon its 2002 release and spawned two sequels.

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As an ongoing rivalry lingers between law enforcement and the criminal underworld, two men with opposing professions take on secret roles. Lau Kin-ming poses as a police officer to spy on the Hong Kong Police Force as a mole for Triad boss Hon Sam. On the other side,...

Award-winning, veteran cinematographer-turned-director Anthony Pun presents “Cesium Fallout”, his third feature film following “Extraordinary Mission” (co-directed with Alan Mak) and “One More Chance”. The film has been boasting of being Hong Kong’s first nuclear radiation disaster movie as its unique selling point, and it has proved a box office success. Certainly, Pun’s extensive experience behind the camera on many visually stunning blockbusters, combined with a stellar cast of new-generation actors and beloved veterans, has certainly contributed to the film’s wide appeal.

Cesium Fallout is screening at Far East Film Festival

Simon Fan (Andy Lau) is an environmental protection expert with a dark cloud over his past. In the 1996 prologue, we first meet Simon as a bold and enthusiastic financial secretary on the verge of implementing a more libertarian trade policy, aimed at boosting Hong Kong’s economic growth and speeding up market efficiency. However, despite the good intentions behind his actions,...

Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" is not the most important film in the director's oeuvre, nor is it his best (it's not even close), but it is one of his biggest commercial successes along with being the movie that finally earned him long-overdue Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. A remake of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's Hong Kong cop thriller "Infernal Affairs," the film did big box office business because it delivered chesty performances from heavyweight thespians like Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson while trafficking in the kind of viscerally charged violence that's been a staple of Scorsese's mob movies. This one felt like it was strictly for fun, and it is precisely that. If you happen to come across it on television, you're likely sticking with it until the bloody end.

Given that "Infernal Affairs" was a massive success in Asia, you might...

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This December, Tubi is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the supernatural thriller drama series Haven to the historical drama series Black Sails. However, for this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Tubi in the next month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the five best films that are coming to Tubi in December 2024 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Die Hard (December 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Credit – 20th Century Studios

Die Hard is an action thriller film directed by John McTiernan from a screenplay co-written by Jeb Stuart and Steve E. de Souza. Based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, the 1988 film follows a New York City police detective in Los Angeles to make up with his wife. Still, when terrorists take over his wife’s office building,...

Remakes have a (not entirely unjust) bad reputation. They lack originality and, more often than not, end up being a pale imitation of another piece of art in one way or another. Yet, sometimes, a remake comes along that offers something new. We've seen this plenty of times before in the science fiction genre, with new technology allowing filmmakers to really let their imaginations go wild, resulting in sci-fi remakes that even surpass the originals.

Something similar happens whenever a Hollywood remake of a non-American movie is announced, be it non-English language or otherwise. Beyond the fact that U.S. remakes make it easier for American audiences to avoid exposing themselves to different cultures, languages, and concepts, these films also tend to lose something in translation. Again, though, there are a number of American remakes that've actually proven to be quite good.

All of this is to say that, despite their poor reputation,...

Despite directing some of the best films ever made, Martin Scorsese has only ever won an Oscar for one of them. Whether or not The Departed deserved the four Oscars it won has long been a matter of debate among cinephiles, but now you can decide for yourself because the 2006 crime thriller is now streaming on Peacock where it's already become a hit all over again.

Scorsese has been a household name in the world of cinema for decades now, having crafted some of the most beloved films of all time, including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, and GoodFellas, to name just a few. But while his reputation as a world-class filmmaker is well known among critics and fans alike, Scorsese has never had much luck on Oscars night. He has received a whopping 10 directorial nominations over his long career the most nominations for any living director.

It's pretty amazing that acclaimed American filmmaker Martin Scorsese finally took home the Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture for a movie that was, for all intents and purposes, a remake of a foreign-language gangster film that originated in Hong Kong. After all, Scorsese is an artist who has largely seen his career defined by idiosyncratic films that practically no other filmmaker could ever recreate.

The Departed concerns itself with the story of two moles, one planted in the Massachusetts State Police Department and the other finding his way into Boston's Irish Mob. Four years earlier, Hong Kong directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak brought that same story to life through a different geographical lens, and its name is Infernal Affairs.

Related 10 Best Foreign Gangster Movies, Ranked

Foreign films often break the mold and reel audiences in for generations, and gangster movies are a great example of this.

What Is Infernal Affairs About?...

Black Mass is an interesting way to explore the life of Whitey Bulger, but there are many films like it to explore next. The 2015 film tells the real-life story of James Whitey Bulger, an Irish mafia mobster who rose to notoriety during the 1970s. In the film, Bulger acts as an FBI informant when he helps FBI agent John Connolly take down a competing crime family. Black Mass is based on the book Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devils Deal by Dick Lehr and Gerard ONeill.

Black Mass featured a leading cast including Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Peter Sarsgaard, and Jesse Plemmons. The film received mixed reviews upon its release in 2015, but was praised for its hair and makeup design for Depps transformation into Bulger. Even if flawed, Black Mass is an interesting look into a certain era of crime, and luckily for fans of the film,...

The Departed gets a fact check by a former member of two notorious gangs in both Hong Kong and New York. Johnny Tsui says the movie's unrealistic portrayal includes a machine gun-wielding Chinese gang member at a deal and an interpreter relaying dialogue. Despite its inaccuracies, The Departed was a critical and box office success, earning four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Internal Affairs, the movie it's based on, and its sequels are available in a new 4K box set from Criterion Collection.

The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese, was released in 2006 and is considered one of the best movies of that year. It's one of many gangster pictures by Scorsese, but despite its critical acclaim, it was recently singled out for its inaccurate portrayal of certain criminal details. In a recent Insider video, Jimmy Tsui, a former member of the notorious criminal gangs Sun Yee On in...

Essentially a mixture of Johnnie To's cinematic style (and casting) and the story of “Infernal Affairs” plus somewhat of John Woo's heroic bloodshed, “Line Walker” aims, though, mostly at entertainment. The film is based on the homonymous 2014 TV series, and later on spawned a sequel.

“Line Walker” is available from Echelon Studios

A Hong Kong police chief who has the identities of all undercover agents in his files manages to protect them by deleting the files before he is murdered. However, this also means that a number of them continue to work unbeknownst to the body of the Force. Agent Ding Siu-ka and her handler Inspector Q are working out their names with great success, with the exception of Blackjack, an undercover agent that has been working in the most notorious drug syndicate of Hong Kong.

Two years after they have started their research, they receive a message...

“You always attack a movie scene as late as you possibly can. You always come into the scene at the last possible moment.” This bit of advice from the great screenwriter William Goldman has guided most moviemakers. The overwhelming majority of films begin with trouble already brewing and end before everything can be settled. But sometimes, a filmmaker takes the opposite approach. These visionaries begin as early as possible, even after the opening of a different movie. Thus, the prequel was born.

Seriously though, most prequels come less from the minds of creatives and more from studios trying to milk every dollar from their sweet, sweet IP. For that reason, audiences have rightly developed a general skepticism toward the concept. But every once in a while, a genuinely talented filmmaker finds value in telling the story before the story. They use the plot beats we already know to give their...

Remaking a 2002 Hong Kong hit and setting the story in Irish-Catholic Boston, Martin Scorsese seemed to be out of his element with The Departed—if not, that is, for the fact that the film marked a return to the director’s bread-and-butter mean streets, and that his source material, Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak’s Infernal Affairs, was itself heavily influenced by his iconic gangster films. Something of a genre homecoming after recent detours into the arenas of the historical epic (Gangs of New York) and the period biopic (The Aviator), The Departed again found him trawling a gritty, brutal urban underbelly where racial epithets spit from roughnecks’ mouths, class divisions are as sharp as a switchblade, and allegiances to others and one’s self are always tenuous at best.

The Rolling Stones’s “Gimme Shelter” plays over a blistering opening sequence edited by Thelma Schoonmaker with gunshot-punctuated...

Mark Wahlberg has been one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood throughout his career. His dedication is second to none, which has filmmakers vying for a chance to work with him.

The actor has worked with some of the most distinguished directors, like Martin Scorcese. Unfortunately, when the two teamed up, Wahlberg’s dedication to growing his hair out for another role became a bit of a headache for the Oscar-winning director.

When Mark Wahlberg’s hair became a problem while filming a Martin Scorsese film

Mark Wahlberg collaborated with Martin Scorsese on The Departed in 2006. The film was a remake of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs. The plot revolves around a criminal trained to make his way into the Boston Police Department. At the same time, a cop was assigned to infiltrate the mob boss’s gang, pretending to be a criminal.

Wahlberg grew his...

Martin Scorsese's 2006 film "The Departed," a remake of Andrew Lau's and Alan Mak's 2002 cop drama "Infernal Affairs," was about a criminal (Matt Damon) who had been raised by a mob boss (Jack Nicholson) specifically to infiltrate the Boston Pd. At the same time, a cop (Leonard DiCaprio) was assigned a deep, deep undercover mission into Nicholson's mob, having to pose as a career criminal. Both occupied their roles for years and began to doubt their identities. "The Departed" is one of Scorsese's more awarded films, which is strange as he has made several much better films since.

"The Departed" was nominated for five Academy Awards and won four, for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing. The only actor nominated for the film was Mark Wahlberg, playing a very aggressive and extremely Bostonian Staff Sergeant named Sean Dignam. Dignam didn't play a major role in the film's story,...

The crime drama will be released on December 30.

Trinity CineAsia has acquired Hong Kong tentpole The Goldfinger for the UK and Ireland after striking a deal with Emperor Motion Pictures.

The crime drama will reunite Hong Kong superstars Andy Lau and Tony Leung with writer/director Felix Chong for the first time since 2002’s Infernal Affairs. That film, co-written by Chong and directed by Lau and Alan Mak, spawned a trilogy of films and inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2006 Oscar-winning crime thriller The Departed.

UK-based Trinity CineAsia will theatrically release The Goldfinger in UK and Irish cinemas on December 30, co-ordinated with...

Tokyo Drift star Sung Kang says that he is currently developing a new Initial D film based on the original manga -- an expression of his love for cars.

The Korean-American actor has teased that the movie will be a faithful adaptation of the original manga. Kang is best-known to Fast & Furious franchise fans as Han, a recurring character first introduced in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. In an interview with South China Morning Post, Kang confirmed that the Initial D movie is already in development, hinting that the story will take the protagonist on a hero's journey.

Related: New Futuristic Racing Anime Highspeed Étoile Releases First Promo Video

Kang also revealed in the interview that the Initial D movie is one of two projects he's currently working on, saying, "It's about cars and drifting and cool things like that. Almost a Rocky or Karate Kid. A fun,...

Hong Kong multihyphenate Andy Lau may just be ready to star in a Hollywood movie after long being a box office king and pop star in Asia. But only if the major studios will meet him on his terms.

“I’m ready for Hollywood, as long as Hollywood is ready for me,” Lau said during an informal conversation at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday after a more than four-decade career stopping short of following his contemporaries and heading to Hollywood.

In Toronto to receive a special tribute award ahead of the Sept. 15 world premiere of Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, Lau said he always enjoyed playing the bad guy in movies as a change of pace early in his career. “I don’t know why in the beginning, everyone saw me as the good guy,” he insisted.

Lau, who sits near the top of China’s A-list...

Tony Leung Chiu-wai has starred in three movies that have scooped the top prize Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and today he is receiving his very own Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

The 61-year-old Hong Kong actor and singer is one of Asia’s most successful and internationally recognized stars. Among his major global credits are Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 romantic drama In the Mood for Love, for which he won the Best Actor prize in Cannes. His other collaborations with Wong include Chungking Express, Happy Together and The Grandmaster.

Leung also starred in the Academy Award-nominated film Hero by Zhang Yimou, and the box office hits Hard Boiled by John Woo and Infernal Affairs by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. The latter trilogy formed the basis for Martin Scorsese’s Oscar winning The Departed.

Talking with the press today, Leung beamed of the Lifetime Achievement Lion, “Finally I can have it for myself,...

On Tuesday, TIFF announced additional honorees who will be receiving a TIFF Tribute Award at this year’s Festival. Recipients include award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Carolina Markowicz who will be honoured with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM. This award is in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists, whose impact continues today. Two-time Academy Award–nominated Polish cinematographer Łukasz Żal will receive the TIFF Variety Artisan Award, which recognizes a distinguished creative who has excelled at their craft and made an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment. Both Markowicz and Żal will be honoured on Sept. 10 at the fifth annual TIFF Tribute Awards gala fundraiser at Fairmont Royal York Hotel, presented by Bulgari.

On Sept. 15, TIFF will be honouring Andy Lau, the multi-hyphenate Hong Kong artist with a Special Tribute Award at the World Premiere Gala presentation of Ning Hao’s “The Movie Emperor,...

TIFF has begun announcing their Conversation With… (Icw) series for this year’s fest with Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar, Hong Kong actor Andy Lau and Concrete Utopia Korean stars Lee Byung-hun and Park

Seo-jun set to sit down for chats.

“TIFF’s 2023 In Conversation With… series exemplifies our belief that film can ignite perspectives and fuel

transformation,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “We are delighted to welcome a powerhouse lineup of international iconoclasts from Spain, South Korea, and Hong Kong for film lovers of all genres.”

Almodóvar is already set to receive TIFF’s Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media this year at the fest’s Tribute Awards. His short, Strange Way of Life, which played at Cannes, will also make its North American premiere at TIFF. Short follows the relationship between a sheriff (Ethan Hawke) and a rancher

(Pedro Pascal) and their shared past.

Concrete Utopia stars...

A couple months after spotlighting the world’s greatest actress, the Criterion Channel have taken a logical next step towards America’s greatest actress. May (or: next week) will bring an eleven-film celebration of Jennifer Jason Leigh, highlights including Verhoeven’s Flesh + Blood, Miami Blues, Alan Rudolph’s Mrs. Parker, her directorial debut The Anniversary Party, and Synecdoche, New York, and a special introduction from Leigh. Another actor’s showcase localizes directorial collaborations: Jimmy Stewart’s time with Anthony Mann, an eight-title series boasting the likes of Winchester ’73 and The Man from Laramie. Two more: a survey of ’80s Asian-American cinema (Chan Is Missing being the best-known) and 14 movies by Seijun Suzuki.

That would be enough for one month (or two), but No Bears and Cette maison will have their streaming premieres, while Criterion Editions offers the Infernal Affairs trilogy (plus its packed set), Days of Heaven, and the aforementioned Chan Is Missing.

When a university professor Xia Wei (Wang Likun) is suspected of intentional homicide, public opinion spirals out of control and there is mounting pressure from all sides. As public procurator Li Rui (Huang Jingyu) and his colleague Zhang Youcheng (played by Wang Qianyuan) proceed to investigate the case, they discover the involvement of a wealthy but unscrupulous entrepreneur Chen Xin (Bao Beier) and an old case that has been buried for many years is revealed … intentional homicide, sexual assault and business-government collusion are all interrelated. Everyone is forcefully swept up in this whirlwind of fate. In court, Li Rui and Xia Wei’s defense lawyer Tong Yuchen (Bai Baihe) are locked in an intense confrontation. Why does Xia Wei choose to remain silent? What secret is her husband Hong Junshan (Feng Shaofeng) hiding? Just as it becomes difficult to distinguish between good and evil, an unpredictable crisis awaits everyone… (Source:...

The Venice Film Festival has set filmmaker Liliana Cavani and actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai to receive this year’s Golden Lions for lifetime achievement. The 80th Venice fest runs from August 30-September 9 on the Lido.

Cavani, whose credits include 1974 classic The Night Porter, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, and 1985’s The Berlin Affair, has had several films at the festival, beginning with 1965’s Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy, which won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary. It was followed by Francesco d’Assisi (1966), Galileo (1968), I cannibali (1970), Dove siete? Io sono qui (1993) — for which Anna Bonaiuto won the Coppa Volpi for best actress — Ripley’s Game with John Malkovich (2002) and Clarisse (2012).

As for Leung, whose credits include Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Zhang Yimou’s Hero, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs and recent Marvel title Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,...

Some 16 titles were showcased at a packed launch in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) presented a massive line-up of 16 titles at Filmart, including actor Nicholas Tse’s directorial debut New Police Story 2 and a further two action films also led by Tse.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first New Police Story, which was directed by the late filmmaker Benny Chan. The new feature reunites the original cast, including Tse, Jackie Chan and Charlene Choi, from the original film. Chan will produce for Tse who will direct for the first time.

The film is set to enter production this year,...

2021 was one of the best years in recent memory for Asian films on physical media, with a number of boutique, established and newer labels realising the market for it and trying to capitalise on it, giving us consumers and collectors plenty to spend our money on and lots of Asian cinemas to watch. And if it seemed hard to top, most labels one-upped themselves by giving us even more releases, giving fan favourites, classics as well as hidden gems on stacked blu-ray and 4K Uhd releases.

Without further ado, we list here 30 Best Asian DVD and Blu-ray releases of 2022, in no particular order.

1. Ptu (Spectrum Films)

French Spectrum has been investing heavily in the “Golden Era” of Hong Kong cinema with a number of titles, but the Johnnie To’s “Ptu” is definitely one of the releases that truly stand out. The six (!) discs of the collection are filled...

Corruption and the way it usually connects the police with the politicians and the “capital” has always been a source of inspiration for filmmakers, with a number of titles presenting its blights in their respective countries, with particularly Korean cinema leaning heavily on the subject.. The result is frequently masterful, with a number of great films of all time having the particular concept as their main theme. 24 of those are amassed in this list, in alphabetical order, as usually, with a focus on diversity.

1. A Dark, Dark Man

The most evident element here is the direct accusation Yerzhanov points towards the Kazakh system, particularly in rural areas, with the ways the police conduct their business in cooperation with politicians essentially deeming them even worse criminals than the ones they are supposed to deal with. At the same time, this comment allows for the two protagonists to stand out, through a rather thorough character analysis,...

Upcoming Hong Kong comedy will star Hins Cheung and Ivana Wong.

Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) is set to release comedy Everything Under Control over the Chinese New Year period in mid-January 2023, buoyed by the recent commercial success of a string of Hong Kong productions.

It marks the second feature of director Ying Chi Wen and stars popular Hong Kong singer Hins Cheung in his second leading film role, Ivana Wong of recent hit comedy Table For Six and Michael Ning (Port Of Call) along with upcoming actors Jeffrey Ngai and Joey Hung Ka-Ho. Ying’s feature debut...

A city enjoying a spectacular growth spur and a metropolis dying out as we speak. A star looking for a way out from a deadly trap and a teenager determined to have a say in her own future. Japanese feel-good movies and terrifying horrors. As always, Five Flavours offers a full spectrum of moods, emotions, and themes. We announce the complete program of the Festival and kick off tickets sales!

Five Flavours Asian Film Festival is the annual review of the best cinema from East, Southeast, and South Asia organized in Poland. Since 2006, it presents the premieres of the newest, carefully selected films from the region, the classics from Asian archives, retrospectives of selected filmmakers, and reviews of national cinemas.

This year’s selection includes 39 meticulously chosen films, 30 of which will be available online, on the territory of Poland only. After the success of last year’s hybrid edition, Five...

Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the Hong Kong star of “In The Mood For Love” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” has been named Asian Filmmaker of the Year by the Busan International Film Festival. Leung will collect his award at the festival’s opening ceremony on Oct. 5. 2022.

The festival will open with a screening of “Scent of Wind” by Hagi Mohaghegh. The Iranian director previously won the 2015 New Currents competition in Busan with his second feature “Immortal.”

The festival will close with “A Man,” from Japan’s Ishikawa Kei. The title premiered this week at the Venice film festival in the Orrizonti section.

Busan organizers said that the festival will play a total of 243 films (features and shorts) from 71 countries and territories. These include 89 world premieres and 13 international premieres.

After two years of disruptions the festival will operate largely normally. This includes a red carpet opening ceremony,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHaunted Hotel.The British Film Institute has begun unveiling the program for the London Film Festival, which runs from October 5-16. So far, they have announced the official competition, featuring films from Alice Diop, Mark Jenkin, and Hlynur Pálmason, and the VR- and Ar-oriented "Extended Realities" strand, including a new work from Guy Maddin, Haunted Hotel.Production has begun on Bruno Dumont's The Empire. Cineuropa reports that the science-fiction film depicts the "epic parallel life of knights from interplanetary kingdoms"; the cast includes Lyna Khoudri (César-winner for Papicha) and the gendarmerie duo from Li'l Quinquin, Bernard Pruvost and Philippe Jore.The international film critics association Fipresci have chosen the winner of their 2022 Grand Prix for Film of the Year: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car.Recommended VIEWINGAndrew Mau and Alan Mak's seminal...

"I suspect Sam has a mole in the department." Janus Films has revealed a new 4K restoration trailer for an iconic Hong King crime trilogy titled Infernal Affairs, best known as the film series that was remade into Martin Scorsese's Oscar winning film The Departed. Many cinephiles are already familiar with these films, but if you haven't watched them yet, Criterion Collection is re-releasing them as a Blu-ray box set later this year after they re-open in theaters first. A blockbuster in Asia, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s groundbreaking policier saga traded the high-octane ballistics of earlier Hong Kong films for a cooler, crisper style and a head-spinning plot full of twists that forever changed the genre. A must see set of films!! New 4K restoration from the original camera negatives was carried out by L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia. Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The original...

The highly influential and wildly successful Infernal Affairs trilogy from Andrew Lau and Alan Mak is returning to the big screen in 4K Ultra HD. Per Indiewire, the Hong Kong action franchise will be shown off in its newly restored form with a screening at the Lincoln Center, giving new viewers the clearest look possible at the acclaimed film and its sequels that inspired one of Martin Scorsese's biggest films. Screenings of all three films begin on September 16.

With Tony Leung and Andy Lau recently reuniting for the new feature Goldfinger, it’s only fitting that restorations of the iconic Hong Kong stars’ crime trilogy Infernal Affairs would arrive this fall. Directed by Andrew Lau Wai-keung and Alan Mak, all three films will be given a theatrical run starting at Film at Lincoln Center on September 16, followed by a release from the Criterion Collection, and now the new trailer has arrived.

The digital transfers were created in 4K resolution on an Arriscan film scanner from the original camera negative. The original stereo soundtracks were remastered from the digital audio master files. See the official synopsis (of course echoed in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed) below.

The Hong Kong crime drama was jolted to new life with the release of the Infernal Affairs trilogy, a bracing, explosively stylish critical and commercial triumph that introduced a dazzling level of narrative...

One of the most striking examples of Hong Kong action films at their absolute finest is Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s “Infernal Affairs.” The 2002 film followed a cop who infiltrates a deadly gang and a mole from the same gang who joins the Hong Kong Police Force as the two men struggle to figure out who has betrayed them.

If that plot sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen “The Departed.” Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning Boston crime thriller is a remake of “Infernal Affairs,” though the original film’s legacy is far bigger than its remake. It also spawned two beloved sequels, “Infernal Affairs II” and “Infernal Affairs III,” resulting in one of the most highly acclaimed film trilogies of the century.

And now, fans and newcomers alike will get to experience the films with unprecedented clarity when a new 4K restoration of the trilogy begins screening...

Last year, Ben Stykuc wrote in his review of “Three Days of a Blind Girl”: “In retrospect, Anthony Wong is the only actor I know that could outNicolasCage Nicolas Cage”, and his comment could not have been more spot on. Having build his career with secondary roles and first roles in Cat III films, Wong eventually managed to become one of the most respected character actors in the industry with a string of awards and outstanding performances to his credit. Just his presence is frequently enough by itself to elevate the films he participates in, with him portraying rather different characters throughout his career, with equal artistry and much gusto. To celebrate this wonderful actor, we present 16 of his best performances, in alphabetical order, focusing on a diversity of roles that have him play from a a priest to rapist, from a cop to a sadistic killer, and anything between.

Acting and directing were not on Jay Chou’s mind when he first began his music career nearly two decades ago. But over the years, he has accumulated several memorable film and TV roles locally in Asia and in Hollywood. And, between music ventures, he has sat in the film director’s chair.

“I was born to believe in myself and complete my work on my own,” Chou said in a 2012 interview, discussing his work in acting and directing. “Once I understand how something works, I like to do it myself.”

His screen career began in 2005, when Chou made his film debut with the release of car-racing action feature “Initial D,” an on-screen adaptation of the Japanese manga of the same name, directed by Hong Kong’s Andrew Lau and Alan Mak (“Infernal Affairs”).

The singer-songwriter from Taiwan was cast to play the film’s lead role, an emotionally reserved...

A marathon screening of all three “Infernal Affairs” films has been announced for the much delayed 46th edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

The three films, all restored and upgraded to 4K digital prints, lead off a six- film section of Chinese-language restored classics at the festival.

The Hkiff was this year postponed from its usual March-April slot to August, due to the fifth wave of the Covid pandemic which closed Hong Kong cinemas for the first months of 2022. It will now take place from Aug. 15-31 for 17 days, again adopting a hybrid format, featuring screenings and audience-engagement events in theatres and online.

Other titles in the section include: Ann Hui’s “Boat People” from 1982; Lou Ye’s “Suzhou River” from 2000; and Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “Millennium Mambo” from 2001.

Delivered in 2002 and featuring a narrative about an undercover cop battling a triad mole, “Infernal Affairs,” was one of the...

Hong Kong director Alan Mak has brought together award-winning actors Francis Ng (“Drifting”) and Aaron Kwok in new Hong Kong crime thriller “Insider,” 22-years after the two shared the big screen together.

Produced by Tenky Tin for Emperor Motion Picture, the film also stars Simon Yam and Niki Chow. A start of production ceremony took place on Monday, attended by Emp supremo Albert Yeung. Kwok also uploaded images to his Instagram account. International sales are yet to be announced.

Ng and Kwok last worked together in Gordon Chan-directed action thriller “2000 Ad” (2000).

In “Insider,” Ng plays a police officer, who rubs up against a lawyer played by Kwok. But the two later became friends and collaborators to fight against the antagonist. The filming will involve large amounts of action and gunfight scenes.

The announcement of the new production also marks what could be a sign of recovery of the local film industry,...

Racing films were all the rage in the early 2000s thanks to the successful launch of the Hollywood “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. A year before that franchise relocated briefly to Tokyo for its third drive, which introduced and focused on the technique of drifting, Hong Kong cinema also turned to Japan for “Initial D”, a feature based on a manga and anime of the same name, which also looked at the world of street racing and drifting in Japan.

“Initial D” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

By day, Takumi Fujiwara works at the gas station of his best friend Itsuki’s father. Come nightfall, he goes down the nearby Mt. Akina and delivers tofu for his father Bunta “Tofuman” Fujiwara’s business in his father’s AE86 car. The Mt. Akina mountain pass is a favourite track amongst underground street racers as well as professionals,...

Further titles include Herman Yau’s War Customised and Alan Mak’s Insider.

Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) has unveiled a slate of 12 upcoming films, including a sequel to Zhang Yimou’s box office hit Cliff Walkers and new all-star features from Herman Yau and Alan Mak.

It has also released the first images of Felix Chong’s The Goldfinger, which reunites Infernal Affairs stars Tony Leung and Andy Lau for the first time in nearly 20 years (see below).

The 12 titles, along with two projects in development, equate to an investment of $191.7m (Hk$1.5b), representing the company...

Racing films were all the rage in the early 2000s thanks to the successful launch of the Hollywood “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. A year before that franchise relocated briefly to Tokyo for its third drive, which introduced and focused on the technique of drifting, Hong Kong cinema also turned to Japan for “Initial D”, a feature based on a manga and anime of the same name, which also looked at the world of street racing and drifting in Japan.

on Amazon

By day, Takumi Fujiwara works at the gas station of his best friend Itsuki’s father. Come nightfall, he goes down the nearby Mt. Akina and delivers tofu for his father Bunta “Tofuman” Fujiwara’s business in his father’s AE86 car. The Mt. Akina mountain pass is a favourite track amongst underground street racers as well as professionals, who test their and each...

The Hong Kong International Film Festival has announced the cancelation of its world premiere screening of crime thriller “Where the Wind Blows.” The move appears to be part of the accelerating ‘mainlandization’ of Hong Kong’s entertainment industry.

The festival said Monday evening in a statement that screenings of “Where the Wind Blows” (previously known “Theory of Ambitions”) had been cancelled at the request of the film’s owner.

“Upon request from the film owner, the screenings of ‘Where the Winds Blows’ originally scheduled at 5.30 p.m. on 1 April and 2.30 p.m. on 4 April are cancelled due to technical reasons,” the festival said in a statement in English and Chinese.

The film was produced by Hong Kong’s Mei Ah Film Production in a co-venture with mainland Chinese firms Dadi Century and Global Group. Its production budget has been reported as $38 million.

The film is directed by Philip Yung, who...

Felix Chong is directing the crime thriller, which reunites talents from the Infernal Affairs series.

Hong Kong studio Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) has started production on crime thriller Once Upon A Time In Hong Kong, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau and written and directed by Felix Chong.

The two stars previously worked together in the Infernal Affairs series, which Chong co-wrote with Alan Mak. Chong has since directed hit crime thrillers such as the Overheard series and Project Gutenberg.

Produced by Ronald Wong, producer of the Overheard series, Once Upon A Time In Hong Kong is set in...

Martin Scorsese has made 25 narrative feature films, and only eight of them have been about people who live a criminal lifestyle. Yet when we think about his work, we think about the gangsters. Not Alice (who doesn’t live here anymore), not Christ (and his last temptation), but wise guys in slick suits who break the law, look good doing it, and always end up dead, miserable or both.

That’s probably because Scorsese, who grew up in New York City and knows the culture intimately, brings specificity to his crime movies that matches his well-known virtuosity behind a camera. He may have made more films about other subjects than he has about criminals, but he helped define the way we look at criminality on screen. And he keeps coming back to the subject, again and again, to refine his techniques and to approach similar topics from all-new angles.

Let...

Alan Mak is a Hong Kong helmer whose legacy exceeds the boundaries of national cinema. The reason is quite simple and part of common knowledge: “Infernal Affairs” trilogy that has spread the influence of the contemporary Hong Kong genre cinema to the whole world. Mak was not the only person responsible for it since he collaborated with Felix Chong, with whom he also did another trilogy, “Overheard”. On his own, Mak has envisioned yet another crime thriller trilogy named Integrity, which is tonally different from his previous work. After a smart and out of the box theatrical release last year for the Chinese New Year (the slot is usually reserved for featherweight comedies and dramas) that resulted in decent earnings on the box office, “Integrity” is now available on video.

The story revolves around the relationship between an Icac (Independent Commission Against Corruption) chief investigator named King...

After initially delivering the classic “Infernal Affairs” trilogy, the writers of that series, Felix Chong and Alan Mak, are back in the genre once again with another stellar undercover thriller. While Chong stays on as a writer, Mak has moved into the director’s chair alongside cinematographer Anthony Pun, which now moves the film away from the subdued drama-like leanings and instead finds itself charging headfirst into classic Hong Kong action cinema.

“Extraordinary Mission” screened at the New York Asian Film Festival

Still on edge following his mother’s death, determined cop Liu Haojun (Xuan Huang from “The Great Wall” and “The Golden Era”) is struggling to stay undercover in a high-level drug-smuggling ring owned and operated by master-criminal Cheng Yi (Xing Jiadong from “1911” and “Soldiers and Their Commanders”). Known as Lin Kai to the rest of the gang, his efforts to bring the gang down from within continually...

Local films grossed a combined $32.5m (Hk$252.9m) for a 13.2% market share.

Hong Kong’s box office decreased by just 1.74% to $247.4m (Hk$1.92bn) in 2019, despite the impact of political protests that have rocked the city since the middle of last year.

According to data from Hong Kong Box Office, the total was achieved despite a decline in the total number of films released to 326 titles compared to 353 the previous year. Overall box office was up by around 6% in the first half of 2019, but started to dip when the protests became more regular in the second half of the year.

Political problems that turned violent in the last few months weighed on the theatrical box office in Hong Kong, especially in the second half of the year. But the territory’s full year outcome was a 2% dip, rather than a precipitous plunge.

Gross revenues for 2019 totaled Hk$1.923 billion ($245 million), compared with Hk$1.957 billion ($251 million) in 2018, according to data published Thursday by Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. That was achieved with the release of 326 films (of which 46 were considered as local) compared with 353 titles in 2018, of which 53 qualified as Hong Kong productions or co-productions.

Between January and June theatrical revenues had been trending upwards at over 6%, according to previous figured from Hkbo. That points to a decrease of 10% in the second half, compared to the July to December takings of 2018.

The political protests, that began in June with a popular movement against a proposed law that would have eroded differences between...

Argentina’s film academy has submitted Sebastián Borensztein’s Heroic Losers (La Odisea De Los Giles) to the 2020 International Feature Film Oscar category.

The film is based on a novel by Eduardo Sacheri, who also penned the book that was adapted into Juan José Campanella’s 2009 Oscar-winning Argentinian drama The Secret In Their Eyes.

Heroic Losers stars prolific Argentinian actor Ricardo Darin (also of The Secret In Their Eyes fame) alongside his son Chino Darin in a story set in a dying town in Buenos Aires. The pic follows a group of men stung by a financial scam who set out to rob the perpetrator. It was produced by Darin’s own banner Kenya Films with Argentina’s K&s Films and Spain’s Mod Producciones.

The film was released in Argentina on August 15, grossing $4.6M there to date, and also played at Toronto and Spain’s San Sebastian festival on...

Popular industry blog Yuemuchina recently named the “new big four” companies that it believes have edged out the old guard studios and now dominate the Middle Kingdom movie scene. Along with obvious choices of tech giant Tencent and Beijing Culture, a producer on a hot streak, the list also included Bona Film Group.

Given that Bona is celebrating its 20th anniversary, something that makes it one of the oldest players in the Chinese film industry, labeling it as new and influential is testament to the company’s enduring significance.

That success is in large measure attributable to founder and present-day chairman Yu Dong, who dominates through intellect, instinct and a willingness to make huge decisions that others would shy away from. His analyses of the trends in the Chinese industry are always listened to and his box office forecasts are mostly right.

Yu began his career as an intern at state-controlled behemoth China Film Group,...