Hong Kong film Archives - No Man Is An Island

Hong Kong Heist Movie “Smashing Frank” Delivers Hackneyed Take on Social Inequality

English Film

·August 10, 2025·2 min read

Hong Kong’s first crowdfunded movie “Smashing Frank” has an intriguing premise but less impressive execution Read More

“The Way We Talk” Examines Hong Kong’s Deaf Community and Culture

English Film

·July 13, 2025·3 min read

“The Way We Talk” provides a nuanced view of differences and dynamics within Hong Kong’s deaf community Read More

Hong Kong Sci-Fi Movie “Detrimental” Befuddles With Bad Writing, Poor Execution, and…Great Production Values?

English Film

·November 25, 2023·3 min read

With its laughably inconsistent plot and confusingly selective use of CGI, "Detrimental" could be Hong Kong’s contribution to the "so-bad-it’s good" genre Read More

The World is Your Oyster: Walking Down The Memory Lane Of Hong Kong’s Social Movements

English Film

·March 25, 2023·9 min read

Starting from the Umbrella Movement in 2014, the outpouring of political creativity in fields ranging from independent documentaries, films, animations, comic books, performing art, and novels has brought Hong Kong to the spotlight, especially in Taiwan Read More

“If We Burn” Recollects Hong Kong’s 2019 Protests in a Slow Burn Manner

English Film

·February 22, 2023·3 min read

Lianain Films’ four hour-long documentary “If We Burn” offers one of the most exhaustive retrospectives on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protest movement Read More

“A Light Never Goes Out” Celebrates Hong Kong’s Iconic Neon Signs

English Film

·December 3, 2022·3 min read

"A Light Never Goes Out" is a spirited look into the craftsmen who build and maintain Hong Kong’s iconic neon signs. Though the film’s plot is somewhat boilerplate, it has beautiful cinematography, and demonstrates a genuine love for its subject Read More

“We Don’t Dance for Nothing” Enchants with Its Sensuous Story of a Hong Kong Migrant Worker

English Film

·August 13, 2022·3 min read

“We Don’t Dance for Nothing” is a dance and theatrics filled “love letter” to a Fillipina migrant worker’s life in Hong Kong Read More

Youth Tumult in Hong Kong

English Film

·February 24, 2022·2 min read

“Lost Pearl” aims to discuss Hong Kong’s contemporary political issues with a story that is set during the same time at the 2019 protests, but avoids explicitly engaging with sensitive issues. The results are mixed Read More

Even Death Is No Escape From Capitalism

English Film

·November 30, 2021·3 min read

Fruit Chan's Coffin Homes (鬼同你住) is unlikely to find success on the international film festival circuit. For one, the film is likely to be billed as a comedy horror, though it is more accurate to locate the film in the mo lei tau style of Hong Kong slapstick Read More

Telling a Story About Two Generations in Hong Kong

English Film Interviews

·September 7, 2021·4 min read

No Man is an Island interviewed Kelvin Chan Kin-long, the director of recent Hong Kong film Hand Rolled Cigarette Read More

An Insipid and Vaguely Authoritarian Hong Kong COVID Comedy

English Film

·August 10, 2021·4 min read

2021 Hong Kong comedy All U Need is Love is likely one of the earliest films in the world to make the COVID-19 the central focus of its story. The movie features a star-studded cast of Hong Kong actors and actresses, many of which reprise their best-known roles for the film. This is due to the fact that the movie was originally intended as a collaboration between ten major Hong Kong film companies to benefit a hard-hit domestic film industry. However, All U Need is Love is an insipid affair, which says more about the film industry in Hong Kong today than anything else Read More

Cross-Racial Friendship in Hong Kong’s Underworld

English Film

·July 30, 2021·3 min read

Hand Rolled Cigarette is a well-made film, proving something like the Hong Kong version of Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. Although the film starts off slow, its narrative gradually builds strength over time Read More