RED AND BLACK
Great looking poster to Andrew
Kam Yeung-
wa's 1991 ghost/action/political drama hybrid
RED AND BLACK. Tony
Leung Ka-
fai, Joey Wong
Cho-yin, Wu Ma, and the legendary Lam
Ching-
ying come together to fight spooky goings on during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It's an insane grab bag of the era's fast paced and oddly stage (read AWESOME) images combined, or hiding, in the guise of political commentary. It is somewhat of a misfire but is most
definitely worth a look. There are some very nice things going on in this weird one but the story just somehow doesn't gel into anything worth your understanding. Director
Kam started his career with promise being an AD for
Tsui Hark and
HK cinema classics like
PEKING OPERA BLUES, A BETTER TOMORROW III, and
THE BANQUET. He moved on to helm or assist in
helming some great features in the early 90's. He co-directed
THE BIG HEAT with Johnnie To
Kei-
fung and also had his hand in directing (along with every other
freakin'
HK director) the epic classic
SWORDSMAN.
Kam went on to make some fine flicks on his own,
FATAL TERMINATION, with Simon Yam Tat-
wah, Robin
Shou, Ray
Lui Leung-
wai, Moon Lee
Choi-
fung, and and Philip
Ko Fei and the underrated
actioner HEART OF KILLER, with Max
Mok Siu-
chung and
Yu Rong-
guang.
The Powerful Four
RED AND BLACK
Great looking poster to Andrew Kam Yeung-wa's 1991 ghost/action/political drama hybrid RED AND BLACK. Tony Leung Ka-fai, Joey Wong Cho-yin, Wu Ma, and the legendary Lam Ching-ying come together to fight spooky goings on during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It's an insane grab bag of the era's fast paced and oddly stage (read AWESOME) images combined, or hiding, in the guise of political commentary. It is somewhat of a misfire but is most definitely worth a look. There are some very nice things going on in this weird one but the story just somehow doesn't gel into anything worth your understanding. Director Kam started his career with promise being an AD for Tsui Hark and HK cinema classics like PEKING OPERA BLUES, A BETTER TOMORROW III, and THE BANQUET. He moved on to helm or assist in helming some great features in the early 90's. He co-directed THE BIG HEAT with Johnnie To Kei-fung and also had his hand in directing (along with every other freakin' HK director) the epic classic SWORDSMAN. Kam went on to make some fine flicks on his own, FATAL TERMINATION, with Simon Yam Tat-wah, Robin Shou, Ray Lui Leung-wai, Moon Lee Choi-fung, and and Philip Ko Fei and the underrated actioner HEART OF KILLER, with Max Mok Siu-chung and Yu Rong-guang.
The Powerful Four
Have had this DVD sitting around forever but was under the impression that it was a serious drama, but those comments make it sound like I should get around to it one of these days. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteBrian, I thought it was a drama too. It collected dust for a few years until I decided to give it a shot. Not a great movie but it's odd elements make it watchable all the way through.
ReplyDelete