Kenneth E. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099562
- eISBN:
- 9789882207097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099562.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
John Woo, born Ng Yu-sum in 1946 in Guangdong, China, emigrated with his family in 1948 to Hong Kong. He attended the Matteo Ricci school and had aspirations to become a filmmaker. Woo eventually ...
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John Woo, born Ng Yu-sum in 1946 in Guangdong, China, emigrated with his family in 1948 to Hong Kong. He attended the Matteo Ricci school and had aspirations to become a filmmaker. Woo eventually became an apprentice at Shaw Brothers studios, at that time (the mid-1960s) the pre-eminent studio in Hong Kong. He became an assistant on an early film by Chang Cheh, who was beginning the period in his career when he would greatly influence moviemaking in the colony. The general emphasis on male heroism in the work of Chang Cheh was an acknowledged influence on Woo. Apart from directorial influences from Kurosawa Akira, Sergio Leone, and Jean-Pierre Melville, Woo has emphasized a set of core ideas throughout his mature directing career. These core notions, which center on traditional notions of Chinese chivalry and fused with certain Christian ethical concepts, account a part for his interest in certain directors.Less
John Woo, born Ng Yu-sum in 1946 in Guangdong, China, emigrated with his family in 1948 to Hong Kong. He attended the Matteo Ricci school and had aspirations to become a filmmaker. Woo eventually became an apprentice at Shaw Brothers studios, at that time (the mid-1960s) the pre-eminent studio in Hong Kong. He became an assistant on an early film by Chang Cheh, who was beginning the period in his career when he would greatly influence moviemaking in the colony. The general emphasis on male heroism in the work of Chang Cheh was an acknowledged influence on Woo. Apart from directorial influences from Kurosawa Akira, Sergio Leone, and Jean-Pierre Melville, Woo has emphasized a set of core ideas throughout his mature directing career. These core notions, which center on traditional notions of Chinese chivalry and fused with certain Christian ethical concepts, account a part for his interest in certain directors.
Kenneth E. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099562
- eISBN:
- 9789882207097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099562.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Woo came to The Killer with a diversified background in Hong Kong filmmaking. In addition to John Woo's apprenticeship with Chang Cheh, he had worked as a contract director for Golden Harvest. Woo's ...
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Woo came to The Killer with a diversified background in Hong Kong filmmaking. In addition to John Woo's apprenticeship with Chang Cheh, he had worked as a contract director for Golden Harvest. Woo's career had taken a downturn by the mid-1980s due to a series of unsuccessfully realized comedies. One of the reasons for the film's Western success may be its increased stylization relative to A Better Tomorrow; The Killer foregrounds allusions to European and Hollywood filmmaking in ways that the former film did not. Its conscious allusion to Melville as inspiration would also tend to generate interest in Western cinephile circles. The general tone and texture of The Killer fit more closely with the noir tradition than does A Better Tomorrow, which borrows more specifically from melodrama and the Hollywood gangster genre.Less
Woo came to The Killer with a diversified background in Hong Kong filmmaking. In addition to John Woo's apprenticeship with Chang Cheh, he had worked as a contract director for Golden Harvest. Woo's career had taken a downturn by the mid-1980s due to a series of unsuccessfully realized comedies. One of the reasons for the film's Western success may be its increased stylization relative to A Better Tomorrow; The Killer foregrounds allusions to European and Hollywood filmmaking in ways that the former film did not. Its conscious allusion to Melville as inspiration would also tend to generate interest in Western cinephile circles. The general tone and texture of The Killer fit more closely with the noir tradition than does A Better Tomorrow, which borrows more specifically from melodrama and the Hollywood gangster genre.
