A 3×5 Piece of Hong Kong’s Movie Heaven

Here is some proof that the world is not completely digitalized:Hong Kong, a city of a mere 6 million, is home to one of Asia’s biggest entertainment industries. It’s movie and pop starts are recognized throughout East Asia, and known, if not by name, by face in the west.In a small shop in Hong Kong, a man named Hung Chiu Chung offers fans and curiosity seekers a tangible piece of Hong Kong’s glitz. A story in Hong Kong’s BC Magazine illuminates a bit of the shop’s history and the massive amount of photos Hung still has:

It is no exaggeration to say Hung owns tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of photographic negatives and prints of a multitude of entertainment personalities, including Cantopop Sky King and TVB actor-turned-movie-star Andy Lau, the shop’s undisputed top seller over the years.

Despite a decline in business recently, Hung regularily welcomes Hong Kong film aficionados into his shop and hopes that, though his customers are fewer, the rapport that he has with them will keep him in the collectables business.However, that is easier said than done. Hong Kong’s soap operas now run up against soaps from Japan, South Korea, and even mainland China. Though they are dubbed, the bigger budgeted imports are extremely popular. Great film directors like John Woo, and Tsui Hark have long since immigrated to Hollywood. The man who defined Hong Kong’s new wave, Wong Kar Wei, also seems poised to make the jump across the Pacific. When his American studio films, My Blueberry Nights and The Lady From Shanghai, come out next year, it will all but signal the end of Hong Kong’s TV and film glory days.But perhaps not the end of Hung Chiu Chung’s business. He is convinced that Hong Kong’s movie industry has reached people regionally and internationally, and that these people still want a tangible reminder of Hong Kong’s star power.

“Although very small, Hong Kong has produced a lot of famous films and people. That’s why I have customers from so many parts of the world.”

TV’s Big Week So Far

I’ve been keeping abreast of this weeks many season premiers on broadcast TV. My impressions so far:

1. Nothing too spectacular. It looks like viewers have another good season of Heroes ahead of them. CBS seems to have a decent Tuesday line-up with Cane and The Unit. Another season of CSI gets underway tonight as well. I admit I’m looking forward to it.
2. The biggest surprise was Life. As NBC was promoting their shows, Life seemed to be in the back seat. It turned out to be one of the more interesting shows of the week. It was a bit intense and the lead character a bit of an anti-hero who viewers will like but who might have a dark side. In terms of interesting and complex story lines and dynamic characters, Life is still second fiddle to cable cop shows like The Wire and The Shield, but it could turn out to be one of the most interesting shows on broadcast. (I’m probably jinxing it. For Fox, NBC, et al, “interesting” is usually synonymous with “canceled.”)
3. Ken Burns PBS documentary on World War II has been running this week. It has been as watch-able (“non-boring”) as his other works. As far as Burns’ egotistical claims that the documentary is the truest look at The War ever, I’d have to agree. The interviews with veterans make it that good. You are left with the impression that these men were extra-ordinary for doing what they did. They are also haunted, and almost surprised to look back on the violence that they both experienced and meted out.

K-Ville Blows It

Am I the only TV viewer who was disappointed with Fox’s K-ville last week?

To me, K-ville was about getting one’s due. Anthony Anderson has had a bunch of solid supporting roles and stole the show as gangster Antwon Mitchell in The Shield. In K-ville, he plays a cop in post hurricane New Orleans.

The show’s creator, Jonathan Lisco, formerly wrote for the popular show NYPD Blue. He had a chance to add some grit to a TV schedule of CSIs and Law and Orders.

Finally, New Orleans itself is a well-known city. It was so even in pre-Katrina days, and is finally getting its airtime as the setting for a major network show.

Still, I was disappointed with the show. The banter was extremely cliché. After his fifth “I’m black and your white, isn’t that funny” joke, I started to feel sorry for Anderson. It was as if the writers thought they could schlock together a script and not worry about quality. Perhaps they expected charity from the viewing audience because the show was set in New Orleans and had so many references to the sorry state of things after Katrina.

The story was pretty much lifted off of every other cop show ever made. Though it seems that the tools to make this a better show are there, it doesn’t look like it will happen for K-ville. The writers are going to have to rely on more than the fact that the film is set in New Orleans to sell their show.

Sure, everyone feels sorry for what happened during Hurricane Katrina. That doesn’t mean that they are going to sit through an hour of bad dialogue and plots recycled from other shows.

Like Katrina, K-ville is another disaster that took place in New Orleans.