Prison on Fire
(Gam yuk fung wan)
Ringo Lam
- 1987
- Hong Kong
- Action / Drama
- 1h38mn
- Original version with French subtitles
- Color
New 4K master
Convicted to three years in prison for Involuntary manslaughter, Lo Ka-yiuk quickly becomes a target for other inmates manipulated by a corrupt guard. He strikes up a friendship with Chung Tin-ching, who attempts to protect him.
These Hong Kong prison movie classics, released four years apart, imposed Ringo Lam’s singular mark. In this cult diptych the filmmaker illustrates the genre’s archetypes while attempting to demystify them and strip them of their spectacular adornments. The corrupt guards try to set the inmates up against each other by spreading rumors to provoke fatal incidents, while the heroes seek only one thing: survival. The filmmaker always employs a very strange blend of genres and tones, shifting from suspense to comedy to melodrama. Adopting an almost Italian buddy movie humor, he seems more interested in the developing friendships than in eruptions of violence. Constantly subverting the genre’s conventions, he downplays the drama, eschews tragedy, and films the numerous fights without glamorizing them, but more as chaotic brawls among clumsy individuals. Here, attempts at heroism are defused or doomed to failure. While most prison films depict prison as a nightmare, Ringo Lam portrays a living environment, a social microcosm filled with surprisingly lighthearted moments.. By rediscovering these two films, we are also reminded that before being the epic hero of The Killer and Hard Boiled, Chow Yun-fat excelled at comedy.
Screenings
01/09 • 21h30 • Screen 300
10/09 • 16h30 • Screen 500
Credits
- With : Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Ho Ka-kui, Roy Cheung, Victor Hon...
- Screenplay : Yin Nam
- Photography : Huang Wen-yun
- Editing : Cinema City Production Co. Ltd. Editing Unit
- Music by : Lowell Lo
- Production : Catherine S. K. Chang, Karl Maka
