Hong Kong Film Classic vs Millenium Movie Night (Comedy Edition!)

2nd Update! Thanks so much guys for all your great suggestions. I'm also updating my film suggestions below. Per Gosha and Vanina's suggestions, I will also bring Kungfu Hustle and Crossing Hennessy, and we can just decide on the day by a democratic vote about what we feel like watching on the day :)

I am going to suggest the following two comedy HK movies, both starring Sammi Cheng (one with Andy Lau, the second one with Sean Lau Ching Wan). Both are great movies that satirise features of Hong Kong society (e.g. outward obsession with thinness and money and status), but also celebrate the no-nonsense attitudes and the particular blend of streetwise resourcefulness and common decency of many Hongkongers. They also show many great locations of Hong Kong.

"Needing You" 孤男寡女 (2000 - yes I'm cheating a little as it's techically not a 90s movie, but it has so many 90s movies references I feel it should be made an exception)

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/a/b/4/600_444151412.jpeg

This film references and satirises many of Andy Lau's past seminal movies that established him as the leading man of the HK silverscreen in the 90s, but even those who don't know much about the movie references would be able to enjoy him playing the typical go-getting Hong Kong exec and Sammi Cheng's turn as the quirky secretary that earnt her her first Best Actress award at the Hong Kong "Oscars". To me, much of the enjoyment of this movie comes from its satirical observations of office life, as well as lampooning the market mentality of many Hongkongers on love and marriage.

LoveHKfilm.com review here:

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/needing_you.htm

Watch the Trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hpbMaFEk6I

"My Left Eye Sees Ghosts" 我左眼見到鬼 (2002)

http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/e/e/b/600_444152491.jpeg

http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/e/f/e/600_444152510.jpeg

This is one of my favourite movies ever! Sammi Cheng teams up with Sean Lau in this horror-comedy. Their great chemistry and accomplished comic timing made this a joy, the dialogue is sharp as a tack (the old lady astrologer's Chinglish is an absolute delight and she's a scene stealer), and the story has a real heart about what it means to survive after a bereavement. And it has many cute puppies!

IMDB synopsis:

A car accident gives a spoiled, troubled young woman the ability to see ghosts, including one of a former classmate.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319901/

It has a 75% Audience score on Rotten Tomatoes:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/my_left_eye_sees_ghosts/

Watch the trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty4vP2lPGoQ

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Update! Hi folks, I've found us a very good central venue for our screening night that's affordable :D The hotel is in fact not too far down from the Soder+Ko venue from our last outing so we should all be able to find it. (Also, it's close to Good World so very handy if we fancy some dimsums afterwards, or indeed during the show!)

I was kindly given a half-day rate by the hotel staff so it's only EUR49 in total to hire the venue. As it looks like there would be at least five of us going, so that would only be a tenner each (or even less if other members also sign up, so we would basically split the venue hire cost).

We can get food catering from the bar next door (which used to be part of the the hotel) if we wanted (once I've the menu I'll post it up), but it's not a pre-requisite and we can simply have the room without catering. The hotel can offer beverages. I would be happy to look after the tea/coffee/water costs for the day, and each person can look after his/her own particular food/snack costs. (Perhaps we can take advantage of the nearby restaurants for brought-in dimsums?)

I've been given great flexibility by the hotel in terms of hours, so while I've set the time for 1:30pm to 6:30pm for now (given that it's a Sunday), if we want to have this double-bill film event to take place in the evening - i.e. to make it a proper film "night" of it (e.g. from 5pm to 10pm say) - we could definitely arrange it.

Let me know in the comments below / by message if you would like the films to be shown earlier / later that day.

Really looking forward to it now =)

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Hi all, just a quick note here on what we'll do for the film night. I propose we do it "Celebrity Deathmatch" style and pit a HK film classic (made in the decades up to and including the 1990s) with one picked from the post-Millenium productions. We can be of course quite selective in our pairings to maximise discussion potential. So our first themed movie night will sadly not be the WKW one that I planned to eventually host (even I have to admit it's a bit heavy going for our first movie night), but on HK comedies from the 90s vs the 00s!

I will select a favourite from the 90s that I know and love starring a very popular actor-actress pairing from that era -- Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng :) (Now have fun guessing which one I'll put up). Can I throw the challenge to the floor to come up with a 00s/10s selection that will be great fun to watch and compare and contrast. We could select another popular actor-actress comedy pairing in more recent years (e.g. Miriam Yeung and her co-stars) and see how these couples measure up against each other?

What do you think? I need help of course with the latest movies! Please feel free to throw in suggestions. I have set the date though for now - I choose Sunday 29th as it may be cheaper to hire venue on the Sunday to be honest - Let me know which date you prefer and I will be investigating venues.