Notice anything on my blog in 2005? Yes, there were a lack of Hong Kong movie reviews. I have been fairly busy recently, but I’d like to think that I’m not completely to blame. In 2005, according to Hong Kong Entertainment In Review, the number of Asian films released in Hong Kong declined by almost 20% compared to the previous year. What’s more, 2004 had a few high profile titles released, such as House of Flying Daggers, 2046 and New Police Story to bolster box office sales. 2005, I can’t say there were really any of note.
For much of 2005, there were only small budget films being made, mostly without the big local stars, and consequently the market was swamped by the big Hollywood blockbusters. I can’t comment completely on how good many of these HK films were, as most of them were released towards the end of 2005 and as such the DVDs haven’t reached my letterbox yet.
But for a dismal year in 2005, what for 2006? Well, it looks like Hollywood is going to muscle in more, even in Asian cinema. After the success of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hollywood has forayed into Asian cinema but without much success. For example, one of the first investments to fund an all-Asian movie was Warner’s funding of Johnny To and Wai Ka Fai’s Turn Left Turn Right. However, this relatively turned out to be a flop as it only amassed lukewarm reviews. And so it has tended to be the global distribution of local one-off discoveries that have ended with success, such as Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle. It seems the release of local blockbusters seem to achieve more success than Hollywood funded projects.
But like a good movie, a twist might happened that may be about to change Asian cinema.
The release of Memoirs Of A Geisha is bound to have a major impact. Although written by a Western author, it has been highly anticipated in having an all-Asian cast. Gong Li, once voted the most beautiful Asian woman, joins the equally delectable Zhang Ziyi and the very capable Michelle Yeoh. Ken Wantanabe, Tom Cruise’s co-star in The Last Samurai, plays the male lead.
Despite the Japanese background of Geisha, all the female leads are actually ethnic Chinese (Yeoh is Malaysian Chinese), which has drawn much criticism in many groups, including Asian forums. Hollywood has gone for the superstars of Asian cinema, which sadly doesn’t include many Japanese actresses. And it has worked for the US so far, with fairly good reviews. How well it works in Asia (and in the UK, where it is due to be released a week this Friday), well, we’ll have to see.
But what of Hong Kong cinema. Well, the biggest movie industry in Asia is in a bit of a crisis. It appears that a change is happening in which a search for good quality scripts is occurring to make good quality movies instead of the pumping out of many low quality budget films week on week.
With the days when local movies were more popular than Hollywood ones almost gone, a secret has been revealed by some of the more respected directors in HK. That good movies sell well, particularly against Hollywood. Get ready for some more of the likes of Kung Fu Hustle and House of Flying Daggers.
So is it a decline or a blip? Well, we can only wait and see. But in me is a tinge of excitement. The days of quality films in HK may be about to return and return in big time. It may even spell a bounceback for the HK movie industry. But, will it happen in 2006? I’m not sure, but we can only wait and see.