A Better Tomorrow

Part of the series 18th Annual Made in Hong Kong Film Festival.

Screenings:
Friday, July 12, 7 pm
Sunday, July 14, 2 pm

Watch the trailer.

“The defining urban thriller of 80s Hong Kong cinema” (Chuck Stephens, Sex and Zen & A Bullet in the Head), A Better Tomorrow confirmed director John Woo’s place as both a master and an innovator. Enriching familiar genre tropes with stylish camerawork, wrenching melodrama, and the balletic action scenes (including its famous restaurant shootout) that are his forte, Woo established the template for the Hong Kong action movies that would later take the world by storm. The film features Leslie Cheung as a cop torn between duty and familial obligation to his gangster brother. As a counterpoint to Cheung’s soulful performance, Chow Yun-fat’s charismatic turn as a swaggering, trench-coated assassin helped turn him into an international icon. One of the Hong Kong Film Archives’ “100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies.” Print supplied by the Hong Kong Film Archive, Leisure and Cultural Services Department. (Dir.: John Woo, Hong Kong, 1986, 95 min., Cantonese with English and Chinese subtitles)

Part of the series 18th Annual Made in Hong Kong Film Festival