Movie Rec: Infernal Affairs
I have this thing where I like to see the original movie before I see a remake. I don't know why. It's a thing. Anyway, Martin Scorsese's The Departed is actually a remake of a Hong Kong movie called Infernal Affairs. I'm not sure if too many people know that. I haven't seen The Departed yet, so I don't know how it compares, but I just watched
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And I was confused before I saw it where it was from. At the Oscars, they called it a Japanese movie. And I've heard other people call it that. And I looked it up online, and apparently it premiered in Japan. But it's not in Japanese, and none of the actors or film makers are Japanese, so how is it Japanese? I guess people were just confused. Unless the company that produced it is Japanese? Because it's definitely Hong Kong. *shrugs*
I haven't seen the second two either, but I get a bit confused about them. The second one just looks shit on the face of it - neither of the major actors seem to be reprising their roles
I *think* (and I could be wrong about this), but I think the 2nd movie is about the two of them when they first join up ten years earlier. And I believe they're played by the same younger actors who played them in flashbacks in the first one. The 3rd one I believe is about what happened right before the first movie & right after, so are played again by Lau & Leung. At least that's what I gleaned from the descriptions. It sounds like it was planned out that way, but who knows.
I grew up on a steady diet of HK B-movies and it's really vindicating to see something so good coming out of the industry, sequel or no sequel.
I have to admit I haven't seen too many HK movies. Any recs?
Andy Lau and Tony Leung actually did a cool song
*blink* They're singers too? Wow, those are talented guys. Or do you mean an instrumental score?
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Nevermind. I missed that you had written "(in Cantonese)." Obviously not instrumental then.
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HK entertainment is a very small, closely-knit niche market so I think you'll find that the great majority of entertainers (except for well-established character actors, who will pop up again and again in very similar roles in many movies) will do both singing and acting, with a bit of a lean toward one or the other. Tony Leung is primarily an actor, though he dabbles in singing; Andy Lau, however, started out firmly as a singer and was in fact one of the hugely influential and successful "Four Sky Kings" in the early 90s, the top four male singers at the time. The other three are Aaron Kwok, Leon Lai and Jacky Cheung, don't know if you have heard of them. Cheung, last I checked, only dabbles in acting cameos but the other three are all very accomplished actors in their own right.
When it comes to HK movies, anything directed by Wong Kar-Wei is your staple and beginning point. "In the Mood for Love", featuring Maggie Cheung and also starring Tony Leung, is probably his best in recent years. I've wanted to see "2046" for a long time but apparently it's not very good. (But it stars my favourite HK singer, Faye Wong, not to mention Hollywood's Chinese darling Zhang Ziyi, so I still want to see it.) I'm also quite partial to "Happy Together", and a lot of stuff starring the late Leslie Cheung is worth a look, particularly "Days of Being Wild".
Wong Kar-Wei is film festival-type stuff. If you want to get into the fun and awesomeness of HK B-movies, I suggest starting with the Young and Dangerous series of movies, starring Ekin Cheng and Jordan Chen among others. It's about the life of triad gangsters and perfectly encapsulates the sordidness, silliness and grit of recent HK cinema.
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Oh, interesting!
Thanks, I'll definitely be checking all these movies out. :)
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