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1997(1st) ~ 2024(28th)
City of Romance : Hong Kong D & B Films Special
YEE Tung Shing
Hong Kong1986 91 min 35mm C
The most interesting thing about this film is that you can Yun Fat CHOW and Tony LEUNG Chui Wai playing cognitively-challenged individuals. Cut off form the social safety net, the two expose the shocking reality of the less fortunate members of society. But the parts they played are supporting roles despite the media advertisement during the film’s Korean release. Stars playing main characters include Paul CHUN, a celebrated Hong Kong-born actor who has played numerous supporting roles and villains, who superbly portrays a raw-chicken-eating divorce who loses his son and suffers from schizophrenia. Also appearing in the film are Shui Fan FUNG and other noted actors. A debut piece of Tung Shing YEE, director of The Shinjuku Incident (2009), The Lunatics offers a rare opportunity to delve into an aspect of socially-conscious Hong Kong cinema which has always been his area of interest. This particular piece is one of the films, including Boat People (1982) and Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (1980), which had conflicts with the government due to censorship issues, for supposedly exposing the “dark” side of the city’s welfare system. (The 1980s marked the beginning of significant relaxation of censorship in Hong Kong.) The rapid development and the image of shanty quarters captured in the film are particularly impressive. (JU Seong Cheol)