Hong Kong film Archives - No Man Is An Island

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

·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

“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

“Obedience” Provides Insightful Look at Hong Kong’s Garbage Collectors

English Film

·October 26, 2025·2 min read

Fly-on-the-wall documentary “Obedience” turns the lives of Hong Kong’s elderly garbage collectors into quiet and balanced poetry 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

“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

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

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

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

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

Hong Kong’s “Queerpanorama” Is Uneven and Mysterious but Beautifully Shot

English Film

·October 25, 2025·2 min read

Indie Hong Kong film "Queerpanorama" explores an unnamed protagonist's identity amidst echoes of the city’s 2019 pro-democracy protests Read More

Love in the Shadows of Macau’s Casinos

Uncategorized

·July 1, 2021·3 min read

Madalena, a Hong Kong-Macau co-production, is a romance between two working-class immigrants to Macau from China. Ultimately, the film provides an effective, if dramatized, look at the lives of the working class as they eke out a bare existence in the shadows of the mega-casinos that Macau is best known for Read More