Police Story & Shorts
Police Story & Shorts
Hong Kong action films have propelled the city onto the international cinema stage. ‘Counter/Action’, a subchapter of ‘Hong Kong: The Establishing Shot’, brings audiences a timely opportunity to reassess the importance of this genre for our understanding of the city. The works in this selection range from a generation-defining classic, a barnstorming crime thriller with an infamous backdrop, to one that serves as a deconstruction of the action mise en scène.
Police Story
Jackie Chan | 1985 | Chinese & English subtitles | 100 min.
Jackie Chan was at his creative peak when he directed Police Story, having reached maturity in the martial-arts comedy genre in the mid-1980s. Chan Ka-kui (Chan), a go-it-alone detective, is tasked with bringing down drug lord Chu (Chor Yuen) and protecting the principal witness of the case Selina (Brigitte Lin), while having to clear his name after being framed by the grudge-bearing Chu. The actor-director and his team designed stunts in wildly imaginative and daring ways under Hong Kong’s unique cityscape. While the reception of subsequent films in the series and the reputation of the actor himself varied over the years, Chan's body of work during that period represents the golden age of Hong Kong action cinema.
M+ Cinema will be presenting a new digitally restored 4K version of this film.
The screening on 3 July will be followed by a post-screening talk in English with M+ Assistant Curator of Moving Image Francisco Lo.
Directed by Jackie Chan. Police Story, 1985. Photo: Courtesy of 2010 Fortune Star Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Directed by Jackie Chan. Police Story, 1985. Photo: Courtesy of 2010 Fortune Star Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Accompanying Shorts
Hong Kong: Volunteer Youngsters Help Police Fight Crime, 1978. Photo: Courtesy of 10X Media Group Pty Ltd
Hong Kong Broadband 18 Districts (Kwun Tong, Kwai Tsing), 2009. Photo: Courtesy of The Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong