Josephine Siao

Revisit 100 years of Chinese cinema through the RTHK TV program A Century of Light and Shadow. Aired in 2005, this interesting and informative documentary traces the development of the Chinese film industry from the pioneering years to contemporary times. From the volley between Mandarin and Cantonese films to the rise of the New Wave, this program touches on all the major trends and developments that have helped define Chinese cinema and explores different genres and representative figures and films. From actors to directors, over 200 film industry names, including Jackie Chan, John Woo, Sammo Hung, Connie Chan, Andrew Lau, Peter Chan, and Lau Ching Wan, appear in the program, bringing their intimate knowledge of the industry and providing insight about what lies ahead for Chinese cinema.

North Quick Hands, a gambler, killed a gang in revenge for his friend, for which he was sentenced to prison. South Tin-lone waited for Quick Hand's release, so that he might be recruited into the gang. But Quick Hands refused. Meanwhile, Sau Tin, a Hong Kong policewoman addicted to gambling, went to Dongguan to seek a husband. She helped Quick Hands to leave China by arranging a fake marriage, as he promised to teach her some gambling tricks. South Tin-lone and his gang followed Quick Hands to Hong Kong and a series of fights ensued...

6.8/10

Cross the Hu-du-men - the demarcation between the back and front stage in Cantonese opera, and you leave yourself behind to absorb totally in your character. Lang Kim-sum is a charismatic Cantonese opera star who understands perfectly it's a point of no return once she crosses the Hu-du-men on stage, and in life as well. Respected by colleagues and friends and about to retire, Lang has yet to face new, unexpected Hu-du-men's in domestic and professional life. Husband Chan suddenly wants to immigrate. Daughter Mimi has a lesbian relationship. At work, her progressive opera director causes havoc in reforming a traditional art. Lang's protege Ip Yuk-sheung chooses between career and love, and a secret of Lang's past also surfaces. Lang, the quintessential master of vicissitudes on stage and in life, braves new crises and dilemma with gentle and light-hearted flair.

7.1/10

The Suns are a typical Hong Kong family: May, forty something, works for a trading company; her husband, Bing, works as a low-grade civil servant, and Allen, their teenage son, is still at school. Trouble strikes one day when Bing's mother dies of a stroke, leaving her husband old Mr. Sun. Alzheimer's Disease is diagnosed. From that day on, the family's daily life is thrown into a poignant. Old Mr. Sun develops a tendency to wander off and get lost, he wakes up yelling in the middle of the night plus he is rude and disobliging ... all this, along with May's already full schedule as wife, mother and employee, drives her close to the edge of her endurance. The very last thing they all wanted has to happen: old Mr. Sun has to go into a Nursing Home. But it does not turn out quite like they expected...

7.9/10

Kin chan no Cinema Jack is an anthology film starring Yuen Biao and produced by Jackie Chan

6/10

Chang Yau-Wai is a family committed news reporter. Together with his wife, they have their hands full with their children, including their soon to be wed daughter. Things, however, soon take a turn for the worst.

7.3/10

This Hong Kong martial-arts extravaganza tells of evil emperors and true love. The secret Red Lotus Flower Society is committed to the overthrow of the evil Manchu Emperor and his minions. One of his Governors is sent on a mission to retrieve a list of members of that secret society. Meanwhile, Canton kung fu practitioner Fong Sai-Yuk falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a rich merchant.

7.2/10
8.9%

The hero Fong Sai Yuk becomes involved in the secret brotherhood "The Red Flower", who are trying to overthrow the Manchurian emperor and re-establishing the Ming dynasty. The social upheaval is combined with Sai Yuk's personal moral conflict about how to conform to the rigid regime of the brotherhood and on top of that sort out his difficult love life, saddled with two presumptive wives.

7/10

A sequel to Fist of Fury 1991 that continues right where the last one leaves off. Chow is a wacky but lovable mainlander duking it out with wacky bad guy Yuen Wah. Meanwhile, he learns kung-fu from the legendary Josephine Siao, and assorted hijinks involving Cheung Man and Nat Chan Bak-Cheung go on forever.

6.5/10

Short Comedy film starring Maggie Cheung

7.1/10

Upon returning home, sailor Yu (Richard Ng) is shock to discover that not only his wife left him, but the house has also been sub-letted to an old maid, May Wong (Josephine Siu). Both Yu and Wong have their own strange habits, and them living together under the same roof causes numerous hilarious incidents.

7.3/10

This is a film about a young boy whose parents are separated and he tries to find happiness.

5.6/10

Jane, with plain looks but a heart of gold, is always in between jobs. Once she gets a job, her knack for creating awkward situations immediately loses it for her. Ricky is her suitor, but he gets nowhere as the girl has no time for love. So Ricky goes along with her in job hunting. Somehow, Jane lands on a job as governess. Not to a child, but to an uncouth very old, very rich man who still wants to lead the life of his poor, uncivilized youth. His son is now running the old man's millions. He wants to bring up the father the civilized way. And he wants to take over the whole city through take-over deals. He is ruthless and has thrown thousands into the streets.

6.1/10

A Cantonese opera company is attacked by an army of ghosts, thanks to a feud between the dead grandfathers of one of the company's actresses and a young man.

6.3/10

Sequel to the comedy movie Lam Ah Chun

Looking for a job, Ah-chun is sent off into the countryside to a seemingly haunted mansion.

Po-Chih Leong's debut film was a trendsetter in Hong Kong cinema. Shot from the shoulder, the fast-moving world of cops, informers, drug dealers and other crooks are evoked in a very lively and realistic way. The action all takes place in carefully selected locations, among them the walled city of Kowloon and Yuen Long. The film looks like a documentary and evokes the kind of excitement usually seen in news programmes. The story focuses on the battle between two gangs and starts in Amsterdam, where one of the gang leaders is murdered.

6.8/10

An early Brigitte Lin Romance.

6.6/10

Filmed on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Hiroshima 28 was the first all-Hong Kong crew to make a feature in Japan. Lung Kong anchors a bittersweet melodrama in the historical milieu in the months following the horrific events of August 6, 1945. Josephine Siao—a star whose career had become synonymous with the filmmaker’s work over the past decade—plays a young tour guide to a Hong Kong reporter researching the tragic effects of the atom bomb, their journey forming an odyssey through the city’s ruins.

6.9/10

Sword of Emei is a Hong Kong Martial Arts movie starring Sammo Hung

A revenge thriller unlike any other, Lung Kong confronts themes of reform and revenge by turning his focus to the subject of disaffected youth. Young Josephine, an audacious performance by a 22-year-old Josephine Siao, is sentenced to an all-girl reform school on the periphery of Hong Kong after a violent bar brawl. Along with a few accomplices, she escapes from the intolerable administration, only to find the streets an even more hostile environment, driving the girls to blood-soaked vengeance. An enthralling youth-in-revolt film from the rare perspective of its female protagonists, shot in indelible widescreen color photography, Teddy Girls is one of Lung Kong’s most enduring triumphs.

7.5/10

Hong Kong comedy film.

Lung Kong’s first color feature expands on thematic concerns supplanted in The Story of a Discharged Prisoner made one year before, situating issues of social reform within an impassioned romantic melodrama. The relationship between a career criminal and a blind girl (a stunning performance by Josephine Siao) form a portrait of marginalized life in a rapidly-modernizing Hong Kong. The profound chemistry between Patrick Tse and Josephine Siao onscreen served as the primary inspiration for the famed hit man-blind girl pairing in John Woo’s award-winning film The Killer (1989).

7.2/10

One stormy night, a poor music student (Patrick Tse) meets a famous dancer (Josephine Siao). In one night, he composes for her the musical of her dreams: A Purple Stormy Night. The management of her dance company is divided on the musical, but the dancer manages to dispel all their doubts and the musical becomes a great success. The student and the dancer fall in love, but there is a shadow side to happiness: corrupted by success, the next musical they make is superficial. "Purple Night" shows the dangerous influence commerce can have on artistic integrity and is also about themes such as love and friendship, the relationship between art and life and the conflict between rich and poor.

A Hong Kong love story

Hong Kong musical.

7.2/10

In realising their scheme to rule the underworld, the Poisonous Snake Gang breeds the 'Blue Poisonous Bees' and sends Red Rose over to the blue-clad Flying Dragon Gang to execute the 'Flying Sting' mission. Shadowed by the competent fighter Lung King-tin, Ma Tung-choi demands that the newcomer obtain the nuclear pistol from Poisonous Snake to prove her loyalty. Anna Tai of the Female Monster Gang intercepts the two and makes them yield the pistol before locking them up. Upon Lung's heroic rescue, Rose shifts loyalty to Flying Dragon but the Poisonous Snake spies strike, abducting the three to a garage where a brawl breaks out. Armed with the pistol, Anna frees the captives. She bestows the pistol on Flying Dragon as a token of goodwill, putting behind her unrequited love for Ma who loves only Rose. Poisonous Snake launches a raid on Flying Dragon only to be wiped out by the deadly bees that they breed but fail to contain.

A Hong Kong Jane Bond film starring Josephine Siao.

Bat Girl (Josephine Siao) returns from Singapore to Hong Kong as the singer Barbara to investigate her dad, a trapeze artist’s death. She is orphaned. She stays with her aunt. Her cousin is Sze Wai (Lui Kei), a pulp fiction writer of the superhero, Bat Girl. Encountering injustice, Bat Girl confronts Sze to interrogate about the whereabouts of Wu Wan-Lung (Sek Kin). Bat Girl unites with her friend, Chan Kwong-ying (Lydia Shum). Sze tracks down Bat Girl and is involved in a fight with Lung's marksmen in a nightclub. A private detective, James Bond (Cheng Kwun-Min) helps Lung find Bat Girl to no avail, as she appears in guises. Bat Girl eavesdrops on Lung and realises he was her father's murderer. She revenges on Lung, and a strange female creature (Yung Yuk-yi) appears as the Lung's house's owner. The creature finds that Bat Girl is her daughter. She wrestles with Lung and they are both burnt to death. At last, Sze finds out that his cousin is Bat Girl and they begin a romance.

In 1966, Connie Chan Po-chu and Josephine Siao Fong-fong starred in multiple contemporary films, cementing their onscreen persona as virtuous young women while becoming the hottest youth idols of their time. Colourful Youth remains the only contemporary film to feature both of them. Filmed in Eastmancolor, the song-and-dance spectacle keeps its fingers on the pulse of its era and presents the vigour of the modern times.

Two children try to win their parents over through devotion and duty

The movie is lead by martial arts film stars Cho Tat-Wah and Yu So-Chow, the new generation famous martial arts film couple Chan Po-Chu and Siao Fong-Fong was participating in the episode fifth. As the name suggests, the movie is actually in sense of the Buddha’s theory. According to my understanding in the whole series, I believe the episode fifth is more likely in sense of the Buddha’s theory. So I try to translate in English hoping those who are not familiar with Chinese can enjoy the true spirit in the movie. The story is about how the odd-demon create his “mutilation-poison leg”. At the same time his disciple Dragon Girl realized his cruel means to all men including herself. Despairing Dragon Girl finally met her bosom friend Yuan Tung and her benefactor Long & Qiu and pull together to wipe out her evil master.

6.7/10

Sword of Swords is a Hong Kong Martial Arts movie starring Sammo Hung in a child role

5/10

The Killing Flag (Part 1) is a 1963 Hong Kong martial arts film direcred by Fung Chi-Kong.

Wu Sheung-fung risks her life to save Wong Tin-ho with the help of the white bone sword. Meanwhile the three devils known as Heaven, Earth and Man return to the Devil Mountain with the coveted Swords. Chung Ching, who has divined the recovery of the White-bone Grass by Wu and others, dispatches Kam Yan-kit to abduct Wong to the Black Hair Cave. Luk Fong-fei, Wu and other rescuers are vanquished by Black Hair one by one. Old Devilish Eccentric hurries to their rescue and heals Wong's wound as Wong reconciles with Kam. Kam secretly returns to Chung Ching Cave to seek the precious swords when Wong and others raid the den and are again dispatched away with fakes.

Classic swordplay movie with some crazy monkey fighters.

Siao Fong-fong, who played the heroine Sha Yen, was a young actress who enjoyed huge popularity at that time. The Daring Gang of Nineteen from Verdun City (aka 19 Heroes of the Green Mountain) portrays how Sha Yen practices kung fu with her eighteen fellow male disciples, vowing to seek revenge for the murder of her parents. Produced by Hsin Hwa Motion Picture Company in Hong Kong, it was shot in Taiwan and featured the local landscape. The credits show that renowned director Sung Tsun-shou worked as script supervisor on the production. The theme, “avenging the murder of one’s parents”, is typical of a traditional martial arts movie. Siao Fong-fong as a lovely young swordswoman in the film left a deep impression on countless fans.

Melodramatic film about a child prodigy.

6/10

Loosely based on Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre.

A young Bruce Lee, stars as an orphan, who meets and befriends an escaped convict, that he will cross paths with again and bring about a series of fateful events that reveals a secret about the boy's past.

6.8/10

This Hong Kong martial-arts extravaganza tells of evil emperors and true love. The secret Red Lotus Flower Society is committed to the overthrow of the evil Manchu Emperor and his minions. One of his Governors is sent on a mission to retrieve a list of members of that secret society. Meanwhile, Canton kung fu practitioner Fong Sai-Yuk falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a rich merchant, recently moved to Canton. Her father, in an attempt to gain influence in the region and thus improve his business, offers his daughter in marriage to the winner of a kung-fu contest. Some interesting gender role-reversals take place during a 'comedy of errors.'