At the Hong Kong Movies: 600 Reviews from 1988 Till the Handover

by Paul Fonoroff

Book Overview

Paul Fonoroff, one of Hong Kong''s leading movie critics, has compiled 600 of his highly-personal reviews from the last golden age of Hong Kong cinema into this easy-to-use volume for scholars, movie... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9622176410
• ISBN13: 9789622176416
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Odyssey Publications
• Length: 656 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Every Hong Kong Movie Lover Should Have One

I found the book extemely useful as a reference, particularly since the credits are in both English and Chinese. This is especially useful to movie fans over here in Singapore, where most HK movie fans would know the titles only in Chinese and often there is little or no relationship between the movie's Chinese and English titles. As for the reviews themselves, I found them interesting, critical, and even when I didn't agree with them I felt I learned something from a different point of view.

Best Reference Book for 1990s Hong Kong Movies

I can't believe some of the negative comments I've read here by other reviewers. Whether or not you agree with Fonoroff's opinions, this book is an authorative and informative document covering the decade from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. Unlike a lot of Westerners who review Hong Kong movies on DVD long after their release, Fonoroff saw them when they first came out, and his reviews include many topical references that give an overall feeling for the time and place in which they were made. Plus, there's over 600 reviews in the book, covering all the major and most of the minor movies of the period. There isn't another book in English like it.

Great Reference Book for HK Movie Fans

This book really tells it like it is, and is comprehensive to boot. Fonoroff is highly critical but he supports his opinions well. It's refreshing to hear such honest opinions and not the usual "rah rah" "isn't it wonderful" that so many Asian movie addicts feel obligated to dish out. Fonoroff is also lavish with his praise when he finds a movie he respects, which admittedly is rare. He also likes the trashy guilty pleasure flicks. I think what he respects most is movies that aren't pretentious, which includes the bad & the ugly along with the good. You can't deny he doesn't know his stuff. Unlike most foreign critics of Hong Kong movies, he's lived there for 20 years and speaks the language, plus he has a solid background in Hong Kong cinema.

A First-rate Guide to Hong Kong Cinema

This book is not only a collection of reviews, but a veritable history of recent Hong Kong cinema, as seen through the eyes of the man who is arguably the leading expert on Chinese Film today. The reviews are not only informed, elegant, witty, and to the point; together they reveal a consistent and illuminating perspective on the Hong Kong film industry of the last decade. Fonoroff clearly has his own, Hollywood-derived aesthetic, but in this his judgments always have the ring of truth insofar as the Hollywood style remains the pretension of most mainstream Honk Kong film products through to today. In this respect, Fonoroff's "At the Hong Kong Movies" is an excellent companion piece to his earlier volume "Silver Light" (still largely unavailable in the US), which is an indispensible pictorial history of Hong Kong cinema from its inception through the 1960s. Together the two volumes provide the best introduction to Hong Kong film that one could wish.

A Treat for Movie Fans

This book has universal appeal for all film enthusiasts. Fonoroff's comments are full of wit and wisdom. He provides a lively overview of a ten-year span of Hong Kong movies. Even though only a few of these films may be familiar, the reader gains insight into the essential elements that define a good movie -- in any language.These reviews show why Fonoroff has become a popular film critic and historian in China today.