Hong Kong Cinema Since 1997: The Post-Nostalgic Imagination PDF
Preview Hong Kong Cinema Since 1997: The Post-Nostalgic Imagination
Hong Kong Cinema Since 1997 This page intentionally left blank Hong Kong Cinema Since 1997 The Post-Nostalgic Imagination Vivian P. Y. Lee ©VivianP.Y.Lee2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-22143-7 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6-10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedherrighttobeidentified astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2009by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-30694-7 ISBN 978-0-230-24543-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230245433 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 In memory of my brother, James Lee This page intentionally left blank Contents Introduction 1 Part I TimeandMemory 1 Post-nostalgia:IntheMoodforLoveand2046 21 2 CinematicRemembrances:OrdinaryHeroesandLittle Cheung 43 3 Allegory,Kinship,andRedemption:FuBoandIsabella 66 Part II Schizophrenia,Amnesia,andCinephilia 4 LostintheCosmopolitanCrimeZone:JohnnieTo’sUrban Legends 87 5 TheKungFuHerointheDigitalAge:StephenChow’s ‘Glocal’Strategies 117 6 KarmicRedemption:MemoryandSchizophreniainHong KongActionFilms 138 Part III InandOut 7 MigrantsinaStrangeCity:(Dis-)LocatingtheChina Imaginary 163 8 OutsidetheNation:ThePan-AsianTrajectoryofApplause Pictures 184 TheHongKongMultiplex:AnUnfoldingNarrative 211 Notes 218 HongKongCinemaSince1997:Glossary 236 Bibliography 242 Index 250 vii This page intentionally left blank Introduction ThisbookisacriticalstudyofthedevelopmentsofHongKongcinema afterthetransferofsovereigntyfromBritaintothePeople’sRepublicof Chinain1997.Neitheranempiricalsurveynorhistoricalaccountofthe filmindustry,itattendstowhatIcallthepost-nostalgicimaginationin Hong Kong cinema in the first decade of Chinese rule. Aesthetically, the post-nostalgic has nuanced connections with a long tradition of filmmaking that has developed from creative synergies of both local and foreign sources. Historically, one and a half century of colonial rule and its postcolonial aftermath has also shaded the local cinema with a tinge of ‘homesickness’, from nostalgia for a lost (Chinese) homelandinearlyyearstoafin-de-sièclemelancholyattheendofcolo- nial rule, and ambivalence towards the prospects of the de-colonized present. The ‘Chineseness’ of this local cinema, however debatable, is still felt in the resilience of the realist tradition: refined and updated by the Hong Kong New Wave cinema and subsequent arthouse films, elementsoftheChinese realistcinema stillfindvariedemploymentin the mainstream cinema, with an overall thrust to reflect and occasion- ally critique social conditions albeit in lighter-hearted and throwaway entertainment packages. (The grassroots consciousness of Cantonese comediesandmelodramas,andthenationalallegoryinTsuiHark’snew martial arts films are good examples in this category.) It is important therefore to point out early in this study that the post-nostalgic imag- ination explored in the following chapters is as new as it is not, in the sense that newness always has a genealogy and is always informed by it. Yet it is new because it gives expression to changing categories of value and frames of reference at a time of paradigm shifts, regis- tered in the change in political sovereignty, realignments of power in the global economy, and multiple financial and biological epidemics 1
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