BACK ON ITS FEET: HONG KONG CINEMA IN 2022

Back on Its Feet: Hong Kong Cinema in 2022

Hong Kong cinema found itself in extraordinary times as 2023 began. After enduring three years of disruption, local moviegoers were propelling hometown films to record-breaking runs and the film industry’s efforts to bring up new talent had borne fruit in a big way. The situation was all the more dramatic given that less than 12 months earlier, the city’s filmmakers were locked out of cinemas and fearing bleak times ahead.

The revival unfolded even before Hong Kong’s pandemic restrictions belatedly wound down. A hard-line anti-Covid strategy that had isolated the city and stifled citizens and business was mostly dismantled at the end of 2022 after mainland China suddenly ditched its own restrictions. As Hongkongers started to leave home without the hassles of group gathering limits and vaccination passes, many flocked to cinemas for local fare – an enthusiasm that had started taking root in the summer. 
The surge has been breaking box-office records in quick succession: two films in 2022 beat the old record for a local film, and 2023 has already seen one Hong Kong film – noted screenwriter and first-time director Jack Ng’s courtroom drama A Guilty Conscience – become the first local production to gross more than HK$100 million (US$12.7 million) in Hong Kong. Starring popular comedian Dayo Wong, A Guilty Conscience centered on a barrister who atones for a miscarriage of justice in a case he once handled. Side themes on dodgy dealings among the city’s tycoon class and rousing calls to defend a justice system under threat added timely topics to the film’s appeal.

In terms of production count, Hong Kong cinema remains in the doldrums. Only 27 films reached the city’s movie houses last year, down from 46 in 2021. And yet four Hong Kong films made it into the Top 10 and two of those wound up in the top five – an extraordinary change from past years when snagging just a single spot in the top 10 was a big deal. All up, Hong Kong theatres pulled in HK$1.14 billion (US$145.3 million) in 2022 – down just over 5 per cent from the previous year’s stat.

The dip in takings in 2022 wasn’t so bad if one considers the film industry’s rough start to last year. Cinemas were ordered shut in early January after Covid-19 sailed past the city’s quarantine defences and infections and deaths spiked. With theatres closed for more than 100 days, filmmakers sat out the Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day and Easter, and the Hong Kong International Film Festival postponed its headline event. When movie houses reopened in mid-April, initially with seating capped at 50 per cent, distributors took tentative steps to roll out films before scoring some mid-year successes. First-time director Coba Cheng’s food-themed comedy Chilli Laugh Story, a delayed festive-season film, became an early hit – its cheeky marketing made light of the wait, pitching the film as the “1st Chinese New Year movie to be released in summer” – and Cheng’s script smoothly blended good humour with weightier topics like emigration.

Another delayed Lunar New Year comedy, director Sunny Chan’s second film Table for Six, went on to do even better at the box office. Released in September, the smartly written movie was mostly set in a single home and saw a household coming together over food. Among the 2022 local films, Table for Six placed second, after first-time director and visual effects expert Ng Yuen-fai’s Warriors of Future. A long-gestating mega-budget project that came out in August, Warriors arrived as a rare sci-fi adventure for Hong Kong cinema. Set in a future cityscape that’s attacked by a giant plant and ghastly monsters, the CGI-heavy movie pitched a band of heroes into the heart of a calamity to save their home. Warriors unusually benefitted from a spontaneous campaign by Hongkongers to support the film after media reports claimed popular star and producer Louis Koo shed tears when the film didn’t do well in the mainland. Cinemagoers rallied to catch it on the big screen, and businesses across the city came up with ideas to help get even more tickets into customers’ hands.

Joining Table for Six and Warriors of Future in last year’s Top 10 were Mama’s Affair and The Sparring Partner. The second film by writer-director Kearen Pang, Mama’s Affair had pop idol Keung To star as a food delivery boy who finds a path to stardom when he meets a talent manager. Boasting a neat script and clear pop appeal, Pang’s film resounded with more than just fans of Keung and his hugely popular boy band Mirror. The Sparring Partner at the end of 2022 became a surprise sensation, with weekly takings rising through the first month of release. Directed by newcomer Ho Cheuk-tin, the film delved into a real-life murder case as it followed the two suspects through their trial. Word of mouth was impressive for the film, even with the grisly picture’s reach limited by an adults-only rating. As with A Guilty Conscience, perhaps influencing the audience response was the topicality – Hongkongers today are increasingly familiar with judicial affairs as a steady stream of politicians, media figures and protesters go on trial.

Other major attractions last year included Wai Ka-fai’s thriller Detective vs. Sleuths. Focused on a savant ex-cop who helps in taking down a gang of killers, the densely plotted film made its bow after enduring years of post-production limbo. Also arriving in local cinemas after a long wait was the 2020 anthology Septet: The Story of Hong Kong. Directed by seven veteran filmmakers – Johnnie To, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Sammo Hung, Yuen Wo-ping, Tsui Hark and the late Ringo Lam – the set of diverse shorts let affectionate stories of the city gently unfold onscreen. Another notable high-end picture was Where the Wind Blows, helmed by Philip Yung and looking back to colonial times to capture a tale of corruption high up in the police force.

In small dramas, Lam Sum’s picture The Narrow Road held a sensitive portrait of two cleaners navigating work and home life when Covid-19 first hit. Hong Kong Family, a gentle and unvarnished work from new director Eric Tsang, looked at a household in the aftermath of the parents’ marriage breaking down. Amos Why continued his special line of Hong Kong appreciation with Far Far Away, using the charming story of a young programmer dating women from remote locations as an excuse to highlight little-filmed places. Anastasia Tsang turned to local heritage in her feature-directing debut A Light Never Goes Out. Her film looked to the neon-light trade – a once famed business now falling by the wayside in Hong Kong – as its story focused on a wife trying to resurrect the workshop of her late husband.

Among other dramas, Lost Love, the first feature by Ka Sing-fung, followed two parents fostering a string of children after the death of their son. Shot in a calm, poignant style, Ka’s picture offered a thoughtful take on a topic little spoken of in Hong Kong. New director Terry Ng meanwhile served up low-key drama in Pretty Heart, in which a teacher navigates work issues, family tensions and illness. First-time director Judy Chu looked to the story of her own upbringing in Sunshine of My Life. The nostalgia-infused movie focused on a girl growing up with two blind parents, and was helmed with a straightforward and cheery style. And Just 1 Day, the directing debut of screenwriter Erica Li, captured the partnership of former schoolmates as one suffers from terminal illness. Threaded through many of these dramas is a social consciousness that’s finding favour as many Hongkongers seek to explore, protect and promote local culture and heritage, not least in the face of rising mainland influence on the city.

Other filmmakers did their part to keep things diverse in cinemas. Tales from the Occult, an omnibus work helmed by veteran Fruit Chan, Fung Chih-chiang and newcomer Wesley Hoi, added horror to the lineup with a trio of shorts, and more spooky happenings turned up in new director Wong Hoi’s black-comedy triptych Let It Ghost. The feature-length documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self, co-directed by Mabel Cheung and William Kwok, followed five students from an elite girls’ secondary school over the course of a decade, charting changes in their lives and wider society along the way. The film won the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for Best Film, but its eventual full theatrical release was pulled amid controversy. Ying Chi-wen’s directing debut Life Must Go On provided sports comedy in its upbeat tale of a dodgeball team comprising troubled teens. Breakout Brothers 2, helmed by Mak Ho-pong, built on the characters from an entertaining 2020 prison-escape comedy. And viewers didn’t have to wait long for more cell-block antics: several weeks after part two came out, Breakout Brothers 3 closed Mak’s trilogy.

While films like these have been instrumental in building audience enthusiasm, not all movies of 2022 were able to impress. The omnibus feature Look Up, with its set of shorts about everyday Hongkongers spanning decades and tied around a single character, pushed positive messages but was hamstrung by dull storytelling. Mak Ho-pong’s Love Suddenly, originally positioned as a Valentine’s Day film, came and went late in the year with four weak stories of youthful romance. And Burning, directed by Benny Lau, merely offered a flat retelling of Fatal Attraction in Hong Kong surrounds.

The impact of emerging talent has been a key part of Hong Kong cinema’s current resurgence. First- and second-time feature directors have handled around half of the new releases in the past year, including all four local films in the 2022 Top 10. And young actors are stepping up to fill the shoes of stars who ruled the screens in pre-Covid times. While several long-time A-list figures like Lau Ching-wan, Sammi Cheng, Louis Koo, Nick Cheung, Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Chiu-wai continue to hold major roles, and other players like Dayo Wong, Louis Cheung, Ivana Wong, Stephy Tang and Philip Keung continue their rise, a new generation of acting talent is pushing up the ranks.

Actors like Kaki Sham, Jennifer Yu, Louise Wong, Fish Liew, Angela Yuen, Renci Yeung, Cecilia So, Dee Ho, Rachel Leung, Hedwig Tam and Hanna Chan are growing their reputations with quality performances. Popular 12-member boy band Mirror is also seeing its stars rise in cinema, with Edan Lui, Keung To and Anson Lo in particular taking up major roles on the big screen. The wave of fresh talent has also been amping things up at cinemas through meet-and-greets – a common occurrence that helps boost word of mouth.

Emerging filmmakers in Hong Kong continue to be supported by a range of schemes. The government-run First Feature Film Initiative is providing up to HK$8 million (US$1.02 million) each for films helmed by new directors and produced by established industry figures. Among the recent films that have won funding are Hong Kong Family, Lost Love and A Light Never Goes Out. Further official support programmes have included the Scriptwriting Incubation Programme, while more government backing has gone to filmmaking in general (including work by newcomers) under the Film Production Financing Scheme. The Fresh Wave programme under the government-backed Hong Kong Arts Development Council meanwhile continues to fund short films by emerging filmmakers, with the completed works screened in competition at Hong Kong’s Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival and shown both on local TV and at festivals abroad.

Several of last year’s new features, including those by Ka Sing-fung, Anastasia Tsang and Ho Cheuk-tin, came from Fresh Wave alumni. While the additional support has been welcomed, there have been questions about the health of relying so much on government investment, and how the support of films could fit with officials’ increasingly voiced desire to “tell the world the good stories of Hong Kong.”

While small- to medium sized films are getting funding locally though government schemes or via supportive production companies, Hong Kong-mainland co-production also remains a large part of the city’s film business. Co-production allows Hong Kong filmmakers to release their movies across the mainland, and with that comes significantly larger budgets. Warriors of Future, Detective vs. Sleuths and Where the Wind Blows came about as co-productions, and more large-scale films are now headed to theatres after several years of slowed output. But there are catches: co-productions must pass strict mainland censorship before screening anywhere, Hong Kong included, and scoring a hit in both the Hong Kong and mainland markets at once is a tricky balancing act.

The latter is especially hard now, with Hong Kong moviegoers keen to support local stories that play up their hometown culture. One unusual aside in 2022 was the successful crowdfunding campaign of the crime flick Smashing Frank, set to be the feature directing debut of Trevor Choi after gaining HK$2.5 million on Kickstarter. However, the prospects of similar funding calls in future are in doubt – the government has since proposed regulating crowdfunding, including requiring official pre-approval of all projects.

Even though the record-breaking successes of 2022-23 are lifting spirits, the picture for Hong Kong film remains complicated. Filmmakers are still coming to grips with the city’s far-reaching national security law (NSL) that took effect in June 2020, as well as related legislative changes implemented since then. Imposed by Beijing after a proposed extradition law triggered city-wide protests in Hong Kong, the NSL targets the crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign organisations. While officials trumpet the NSL’s effectiveness in restoring order, others argue the law’s broad reach and its lack of clear red lines have suppressed dissent and eroded free speech. The city’s colonial-era sedition law has also been applied by authorities, with journalists among those charged. Moviemakers looking on amid the changing political and social landscape may think twice about showing anything that could be seen as criticising government policies or law enforcement.

National security concerns also figured into the updating of the Film Censorship Ordinance in 2021. Now movies can be censored or blocked on national security grounds, the city’s number two official can step in to revoke past approvals if a film is found to be “contrary to national security interests,” and screenings of unapproved films attract heavy penalties. In one case last year the Fresh Wave festival saw two films, one local and the other from Taiwan, fail to gain approval before their screenings. In the face of rising restrictions, some with risky productions have opted to not submit works for approval and to seek audiences outside Hong Kong, rather than make compromises for what may be only limited release at home. (Even if a politically sensitive film is approved, cinemas may be too cautious to screen it.)

While social and political issues haven’t vanished from Hong Kong cinema, viewers these days are more likely to find touchy topics and references turning up in allusion and allegory than to see them addressed directly. Also weighing on some filmmakers is the risk of blacklisting: those who work on a contentious picture may find themselves hamstrung when looking for film jobs or investors in future. Meanwhile, mounting pressures in the city since mid-2020 have prompted many to emigrate, and the film business hasn’t been immune to the brain drain hitting the workforce.

Despite its recent hardships and ongoing challenges, Hong Kong cinema is still showing it’s got what it takes to build a buzz. In the wake of A Guilty Conscience’s record-breaking run, Hong Kong film buffs were looking ahead to an impressive array of new films. Soi Cheang’s Mad Fate, Cheuk Wan-chi’s Vital Sign and Lau Kok-rui’s The Sunny Side of the Street counted among the highlights, and production houses were talking up future big hitters at the city’s Filmart trade fair in March. For those who’ve stuck with Hong Kong cinema through thick and thin – as well as those only now giving it fresh attention – it’s heartening to see the city’s film business get back on its feet and taste greater success.