HONG-KONG-A-THON!!!

January 27, 2018 at Anthology Film Archives

In the 1980s and 90s, Hong Kong ruled action cinema, and this 12-hour, six-film marathon showcases the movies that shot first, hit hardest, kicked highest, took the hardest falls, the biggest jumps, delivered the fastest punches, and left the audience with two smoking holes where their eyeballs used to be. I’m not divulging the titles until they appear onscreen because it’s more fun that way, but rest assured that these six 35mm prints are deep cuts that haven’t played in NYC in at least 18 years. Out of print on DVD, or never available uncut and in their original language, these movies highlight Hong Kong’s approach to action filmmaking, where setpieces were constructed on location, shot by shot, then the movies were screened for rowdy midnight audiences the night before their release, their responses used as a road map for one last edit to remove all the boring parts. The result: movies that come at you screaming, full of massive, unbelievable stunts, intricate action set-pieces, insane characters, surreal comedy from another planet, and, in at least two cases, cop flicks where not even small children are safe from taking a bullet in the head. As one character says in the subtitles, these movies are “An inch longer, an inch stronger.” Don’t miss it.