The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tony Leung
Some of the ‘Shang-Chi’ standout’s best movies
Tony Leung happens to be one of the world’s biggest movie stars who has, until now, not appeared in a Hollywood film. Leung (often identified by his full name, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, to avoid confusion with fellow Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-fai), is getting a lot of attention for his work in the new Marvel superhero epic “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” As Shang-Chi’s estranged father and one of Marvel’s more notorious supervillains, the Mandarin, Leung gives a playful, brooding and ultimately devastating performance that’s even more resonant — emotionally, aesthetically, iconographically — if you’ve seen some of his others. Here are some all-time great Leung films and performances, presented in no particular order and as a series of double bills. For those encountering Leung for the first time in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and eager to see more, all of these should be considered essential viewing.
‘Ashes of Time’ (1994) and ‘Hero’ (2002)
As it happens, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Tony Leung Ka-fai appeared in writer-director Wong Kar-wai’s “Ashes of Time,” a shimmering, enigmatic swordplay drama that was underappreciated in its initial mid-’90s tour of festivals and art-house theaters. While neither “Ashes” nor Zhang Yimou’s ravishing martial-arts epic “Hero” features Leung (Chiu-wai) at his deepest, they are tributes to his matinee-idol magnetism and his ability to slip effortlessly into period roles, especially if there’s radiantly windswept hair involved. Just watch him do floor calligraphy in “Hero” and tell me you don’t want to see the rest. ‘Ashes’ is on Netflix; ‘Hero’ is on HBOMax and available to rent on other streaming services.
‘Happy Together’ (1997) and ‘Lust, Caution’ (2007)
Love and lust become corrosive forces in both Wong’s “Happy Together,” which stars Leung and Leslie Cheung as a gay couple unhappily adrift in Buenos Aires, and Ang Lee’s World War II-era spy drama “Lust, Caution,” in which Leung plays a corrupt bureaucrat locked in a slowly riveting tango of desire with a femme fatale (Tang Wei). These two doomed romances could scarcely be more antithetical: “Happy Together” pulses with heat even at its saddest, while “Lust, Caution,” for all its controversy-stirring acres of bared flesh, has a chilly anti-eroticism. Quite a contrast, too, between Leung’s aching vulnerability in the former and his cruelly calculating reserve in the latter. “Happy Together” is on HBOMax and the Criterion Channel. “Lust, Caution” is available for rent or purchase on iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, Microsoft and Amazon Prime Video.
‘Red Cliff ’ (2008-09) and ‘The Grandmaster’ (2013)
Leung appeared in several early John Woo classics, including “Bullet in the Head” and “Hard-Boiled,” but “Red Cliff,” Woo’s magnificent twopart adaptation of the 14th century Chinese novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” might be their towering achievement: Even when heavily armored and surrounded by a cast of thousands, Leung holds the screen above all others, conveying tactical genius, emotional ardor and a sly rapport with his main co-star (Takeshi Kaneshiro). He gives a similar wow of a performance as a very different kind of fighter, the legendary Ip Man, in “The Grandmaster,” Wong’s dizzyingly kinetic plunge into the shadow-world
of China’s greatest martial artists. “Red Cliff ” is on Hoopla, Kanopy and available to rent or buy on various platforms. “The Grandmaster” is on Netflix, Vudu, Tubi and PlutoTV.
‘In the Mood for Love’ (2000) and ‘2046’ (2005)
One of the pleasures of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” is that it’s fully aware of what a star it has in Leung and even seems to pay tribute to him, and to his work in these two remarkable Wong films in particular. In “In the Mood for Love,” he plays a 1960s writer who falls for his across-the-hall neighbor (the great Maggie Cheung); in “2046,” he plays that same man (or does he?), a chivalrous soul turned unrepentant cad, forever ruined by the memory of his great, lost love. I don’t know if these are Leung’s two greatest performances, but they are the ones I can’t imagine his career without, the ones in which this famed heartthrob, whether luxuriating in whorls of cigarette smoke or whispering a sacred secret, becomes as much the desirer as the desired, an avatar of obsessive longing to rival James Stewart in “Vertigo.” “In the Mood for Love” is on HBOMax. “2046” is on the Criterion Channel, Tubi and PlutoTV.