Part of Golden Princess Hong Kong Cinema Classics
In 1985, John Woo was an experienced but lesser-known director working hard in romantic comedies and other projects. Slightly better known was soap actor Chow Yun-fat. A year later, the two were household names, catapulted to Hong Kong superstardom by the record-breaking success of A BETTER TOMORROW, now regarded as one of the greatest Chinese-language films ever made. Spinning off a new sub-genre of Hong Kong action cinema — dubbed “heroic bloodshed” — Woo’s film, made independently for filmmaker Tsui Hark’s new company, portrays the tragedies of three men on different sides of the law. Ho (Ti Lung) is a crime lord involved in counterfeiting; Mark (Chow Yun-fat) is Ho’s suave and loyal partner; and Ho’s younger brother Kit (Leslie Cheung) is a police cadet, unaware of Ho’s criminal activities. All headed for an inevitable showdown, this trio of actors shine through the precision ballet of bullets, blood and destruction, and the groundwork is laid for the next decade — whereby the actors and filmmakers alike would make some of their most enduring and influential work, as further illustrated in this series. A BETTER TOMORROW alone would spawn its own sequel and prequel, both playing here as well.
Principal Cast: Lung Ti, Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-fat, Emily Chu, Waise Lee
Programmer’s Note: See the A BETTER TOMORROW trilogy in one sitting on Sun, Oct 5, starting at 2:30pm (ticketed separately).
“I put all my idols' images in it. The sunglasses were from Ken Takakura, the raincoat was from Alain Delon, and the way Chow Yun-fat held the guns, that was all Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood." —John Woo “The film that turned Hong Kong cinema away from nunchucks and onto guns and cool trench coats, simultaneously launching the careers of John Woo and Chow Yun-fat…still packs a heck of a punch. The real surprise is that it's mostly an emotional one.” —Alan Morrison, Empire Magazine “A huge hit in Southeast Asia upon its 1986 release, A BETTER TOMORROW sent hundreds of would-be Chows into the streets to learn firsthand the foolishness of wearing trenchcoats during Hong Kong summers.” —Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club
