John Woo classic to screen for the first time in China
HONG KONG: A John Woo movie which launched the career of Chow Yun-Fatt is to be screened for the first time in China.
Audiences will get to watch the newly-restored version of Better Tomorrow, starring Ti Lung, Chow Yun-Fatt and the late Leslie Cheung.
It narrates the heartwrenching drama between a reforming ex- gangster and his estranged policeman brother.
When the film was first released in Hong Kong in 1986, it became the highest- grossing movie of the year in Hong Kong and brought instant fame to the featured stars.
For the movie, Woo sought to break from the clownish kung fu films that were being churned out at the time by Shaw Studios and create stories that were realistic and mired in the seedy world of the triads, Hong Kong’s notorious organised crime gangs.
With Tomorrow, and later the action classics The Killer and Hard Boiled, Woo ushered in the age of “gun fu,” marrying balletic movement with furious gunplay and using techniques that are now considered action cliches such as slow-motion, tracking shots and the actors wielding two guns.
Tomorrow, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with special screenings at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, stunned audiences upon release, and soon its fame
AThe breakout star undoubtedly was Chow. Though a supporting actor in Tomorrow, Chow is now very much a global name having featured in Hollywood hits ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and ‘Bulletproof Monk.’
would spread to the West where it heavily influenced filmmakers such as Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino and the Wachowski sisters.
The breakout star undoubtedly was Chow. Though a supporting actor in Tomorrow, Chow is now very much a global name having featured in Hollywood hits Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Bulletproof Monk.
Woo parlayed his cult following in the West into jobs in Hollywood. He enjoyed a purple patch in the ‘1990s with action films like Broken Arrow, Face- Off and Mission: Impossible 2. The film’s producer Tsui Hark has also found continued success as a producer, actor and director, with his military epic The Taking of Tiger Mountain earning over US$ 150 million at the Chinese box office in 2015.
Leslie Cheung was another of the film’s actors who rose to prominence. Already a hugely popular Cantopop idol when Tomorrow was released, Cheung would go on to forge a criticallyacclaimed acting career with memorable roles in Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together and Chen Kaige’s Temptress Moon.
Tragically, Cheung would commit suicide in 2003 at the age of 46 after suffering from depression.
In China, Tomorrow screening on Nov 17. begins