Hong Kong action cinema was booming in the 1980s. And perhaps the biggest bangs coming out of the industry were from a group of filmmakers pioneering a new subgenre that would change the course of action cinema: heroic bloodshed.
With their maximalist aesthetic and gritty urbanity, heroic bloodshed films perfectly tapped into the contradictions of a rapidly changing Hong Kong and the excesses of the 1980s. These films remixed the traditions of wuxia martial arts filmmaking with the Gallic cool and cynicism of the cinema of Jean-Pierre Melville – all brought together in the intoxicating melting pot of contemporary Hong Kong.
Sword and spear gave way to dual-wielded handguns and copious quantities of pyrotechnics. Eloquent grandstanding was supplanted by pithy, nihilistic one liners. Loose cannon cops, honourable criminals and good old-fashioned bad guys circulated a neon-lit noir underworld; each living, dying and killing according to their own murky but absolutist moral code.
This season presents five undeniable classics of the heroic bloodshed genre, and showcases the movement’s major players – filmmakers John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark, as well as its iconic star, Chow Yun-fat.
All of the hallmarks of heroic bloodshed are emphatically and explosively on show here. Expect stunning action choreography and handbrake turns from brutal violence to operatic melodrama. Every action movie technique and trope will be tested to breaking point. There will be blackout sunglasses, ballistic ballet – and, yes, even a baby in distress.
Agenda
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Sat 27 Jun
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Wed 1 Jul
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