Hong Kong New Wave Cinema (1978-2000)

The increasingly popular films of the Hong Kong New Wave grapple with such issues as East-West cultural conflicts, colonial politics, the divide between rich and poor, the plight of women in a modernizing Asian city, and the identity crises provoked by Hong Kong’s estranged motherland. Comprehensive and penetrating, Hong Kong New Wave Cinema analyzes the specific films that grew out of this dynamic era and investigates the historical and social conditions that allowed the New Wave to flourish.
Drawing on the auteur and genre theories, Pak Tong Cheuk here examines the cinematic style and aesthetics of New Wave directors, most of whom were educated at British and U.S. film schools. In addition to investigating the narrative content, structure, and mise-en-scène of individual films, this volume traces the overall development of the film and television industries in Hong Kong in the 1960s and 1970s. Cheuk’s intriguing study of the rise and fall of Hong Kong’s golden age of film establishes the New Wave as an era of great historical significance for scholars of cinema, popular culture, and the arts.