Hong Kong Cinemagic - Johnnie To Kei Fung


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		Johnnie To Kei Fung

Other names :	杜琪峰 Do Kei Fung Dù Qífēng Du4 Qi2 Feng1 Johnnie To Johnny To Johnny To Kwei Fung To Kwei Fung

Birthdate :	22/4/1955
Nationality :	Hong Kong
Workplace :	Hong Kong
Activities :	Director (60), Assistant Director (2), Producer (68), Writer (5), Actor (4), Brief appearance (1), Second Unit Director (1), Planning (3), Presenter (2)

	Biography
Johnnie To is mostly famous in the West for his movie The Heroic Trio. It is one of the first movies to pop in the minds of US and European moviegoers when they are asked about new hong kong cinema (we say new in order to exclude the movies by Bruce Lee or King Hu). It is funny to notice that, just like Wong Jing's Naked Killer, The Heroic Trio has become a cult movie because of women, that is to say the fiendish trio formed by Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh and Anita Mui. But Johnnie To is neither the man of one movie nor the man of one movie genre. Just like a Howard Hawks from Hong Kong (minus the genius, let's be reasonable), he has takled all the movie genres: drama, comedy, action, wu xia plan, historical movie, fantastic movie. As a consequence, he has been unclassifiable for years. Today, he seems to have found his favorite genre, the thriller or cop movie, but this doesn’t prove he’s going to stay faithful to it. By three times To managed to do get his film the blockbuster of the year (in a country where success is more important than artistic achievement, it does have more value than a Hong Kong Film Award), in 1988 with Eigth Happiness, in 1989 with All About Ah Long and in 1992 with Justice, My Foot!. Since then, Johnnie To got more critcal lauds than box-office hits however. The TV training years (1972-1980) Let's first of all come back to To's career debuts. Just like most of the now established HK directors, Johnnie To started working for TVB. He was recruited by this TV Channel in 1972 in order to work as an administrative assistant. He became very soon attracted by the production of TV series and took acting courses dispensed by the Channel. He began working as a producer assistant (and sometimes screenwriter and director) for the channel. Back to the roots (1980-1986) He makes his directing debut in 1980 with The Enigmatic Case but, due to the result ( he doesn’t esteem having enough stature for such an enterprise), decides to come back to TVB. He’ll go on working for 6 years but the experience will not be worthless. A new start : a director under the influence (1986-1988) In 1986, To decides to come back to the cinema. Under the guidance of Raymond Wong, his cinematographic godfather, he will direct Happy Ghost 3, an horrific comedy, a trendy genre at the time. He will as a matter of fact direct 3 movies for this successful screenwriter/producer/actor (Happy Ghost 3, Seven Years Itch, The Eighth Happiness). At this time, it is clear that Johnnie To is there only as a good expert, a yes-man obeying his master. Beginning in the profession is his only goal then. In 1988, Johnnie To is called by a talentuous man he admires, Tsui Hark, in order to replace Andrew Kam on the shooting of The Big Heat. The despot-producer asks him for adding action scenes in the movie, scenes which were not, at that time, the specialty of our man. Finally, Tsui Hark will finish directing the movie. Once again, Johnnie To will not have the freedom every artist wishes to have: the mark of the producer is still overwhelming. Emancipation (1989-1996) Thanks to the huge success of The Eighth Happiness ( most successful movie of the year 1988 ), he will have absolute power for the screenplay, the artistical approach and the budget of his next movie, All About Ah Long. It is true that the bet wasn’t won in advance: a pure melodrama ( at the time crime movies were in), a long-haired Chow Yun Fat playing a loser, a sad end. Despite all of this, All About Ah Long is the most successful movie of the year 1989. This time, the presence of Raymond Wong as a producer is pore discrete: the disciple has won the trust of his sponsor. Doped by success, Johnnie To chooses a directing policy based on success factors: in actors (Chow Yun-Fat, Andy Lau, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Stephen Chow, Lau Ching-Wan, Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh...), in producers(Wong Jing), in themes (science fiction, wu xia pian, comédies, crime movies...)... He shoots movies with the regularity of a metronome. Alongside his career as a director, he starts producing movies in 1990. And his first producing is an artistic and commercial achievement : A Moment Of Romance, avec Andy Lau. He will produce a disappointing sequel 3 years after and a very good movie 2 years after again, Only Fools Fall In Love. His working rhythm as a producer is still quiet. He’s training waiting for the Milkyway Image… During all these years, the genius of Johnnie To comes from his ability to use the best ones: Ching Siu-Tung, Wai Ka-Fai, Yuen Bun, Benny Chan... They will help him building his empire. Birth and growth of the Milkyway Image Company (1996-1998) The Longest Nite.Due to the technical brio of Lifeline, Johnnie To is getting propositions from Hollywood which still wants to attract a foreign talent. He decides to refuse them and to devote himself to the production company he created in 1996, the Milkyway Image Company, surrounded by promising and confirmed talents (director/ screenwriter/producer Wai Ka-Fai, directors Patrick Leung, Derek Chiu and Patrick Yau, screenwriter Yau Nai-Hoi, choregraphy technician Yuen Bun...). The aim of the company is to make young directors famous by helping them making their first movies: it is a place for young talents over which Mister To is ruling ( anyway he remains less tyrannic than Tsui Hark used to be with the Workshop staff ). The movies produced by the company, mainly arty and gloomy crime movies, are quickly made low budget movies. It is, according to Johnnie To, the sine qua non condition of survival in the cinematographical industry of the ex-colony: movies have to be made quickly profitable ( they remain in the average one week in theatres and are systematically bootlegged ). Moreover, it allows the directors to take artistical risks. The Milkyway movies – just like the UFO movies before- have a real identity in comparison with the rest of the Hong Kong movies: characters have a psychological depth ( they have a life before and during the movie ), a pessimistic atmosphere is mixed with dark humour, the photography is very often remarkable ( mostly in the wonderful The Longest Nite ) and the hero is frequently an outsider close to an autistic man ( very often played by Lau Ching-Wan ) with an animal impulse. The Milkyway became quickly the source of many achievements : Beyond Hypothermia, The Longest Nite, Too Many Ways To Be N°1, movies which are as fascinating as plastically achieved. First signs of weakness for the Milkyway(1998-1999) Things are getting worse in 1998 as Johnnie To accuses Patrick Yau of being an usurper : he declares in interviews that his former director assistant ( a man he knew while working for TVB ) put his own name on the credits without To’s knowing … Why didn’t he do anything when he was usurped for the first time? Why did he wake up suddenly afterwards? Some say he wants to direct movies in the Us ( the retrocession and the crisis of movie industry made lots of directors want to leave Hong Kong ) and therefore he needs a sizeable CV. In order to prove he’s the real director of The Odd One Dies, The Longest Nite and Expect The Unexpected, Johnnie To directs A Hero Never Dies, something of a parody, an aesthetic but empty movie, a pale copies of movies by … Patrick Yau. And strangely Patrick Yau will recover his job as an assistant director on Where A Good Man Goes. Who did crack up ? Who did miss the other ? A promising future? (1999- …) Today, Johnnie To has allied with the movie company Mei Ah ( and therefore is sure to have his movies quickly released on vcd and dvd ) and is directing quickly made low budget crime movies with in actors. Some are smash hits, some are not. But he doesn’t care: if the audience gets tired, he will change his style! "I like to direct movies which follow the trend and the times" -- Johnnie To to Miles Wood (in Cine East) David-Olivier Vidouze - March 2000 Translation by Florent. Updated March 2008.
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Filmography

[ 2010 - 2000 - 1990 - 1980 ]

Alternate lists by alpha / genre / year

Title ( HK - All )		Year	Activity

	Election 3	2016	Director
	Three	2016	Director, Producer
	Trivisa	2016	Producer
	Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2	2014	Director, Producer
	Complicated Story, A	2013	Producer
	Blind Detective	2012	Director, Producer
	Drug War	2012	Director
	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	2011	Director, Producer
	Life Without Principle	2011	Director, Producer
	Motorway	2011	Producer
	Romancing in Thin Air	2011	Director
	In Manchurian Dynasty	2010	Producer
	Johnnie Got His Gun !	2010	Actor
	Punished	2010	Producer
	Accident	2009	Producer
	Tactical Unit: Comrades In Arms	2009	Producer
	Tactical Unit: Partners	2009	Producer
	Vengeance	2009	Director, Producer
	Linger	2008	Director, Producer
	Sparrow, The	2008	Director
	Tactical Unit: Human Nature	2008	Producer
	Tactical Unit: No Way Out	2008	Producer
	Tactical Unit: The Code	2008	Producer
	Hooked On You	2007	Producer
	Mad Detective	2007	Director, Producer
	Triangle	2007	Director, Producer, Presenter
	2 Become 1	2006	Producer
	Election 2	2006	Director, Producer
	Exiled	2006	Director, Producer
	Eye In The Sky	2006	Producer
	Election, The	2005	Director, Producer
	Open Road	2005	Director, Producer, Writer
	Breaking News	2004	Director, Producer
	Throw Down	2004	Director, Producer
	Yesterday Once More	2004	Director, Producer
	Looking For Mr Perfect	2003	Producer
	Love For All Seasons	2003	Director, Producer
	Love Under The Sun	2003	Producer, Writer
	Memory Of The Youth	2003	Producer
	Project 1:99	2003	Director
	Project 1:99 Rhapsody	2003	Director, Writer
	PTU	2003	Director, Producer
	Running On Karma	2003	Director, Producer
	Turn Left Turn Right	2003	Director, Producer
	Fat Choi Spirit	2002	Director, Producer
	My Left Eye Sees Ghosts	2002	Director, Producer
	Fulltime Killer	2001	Director, Producer
	Gimme Gimme	2001	Producer
	Love On A Diet	2001	Director, Producer
	Running Out Of Time 2	2001	Director, Producer
	Second Time Around	2001	Producer
	Wu Yen	2001	Director, Producer
	Comeuppance	2000	Producer
	Help !!!	2000	Director, Producer
	Needing You	2000	Director, Producer
	Spacked Out	2000	Producer
	Mission, The	1999	Director, Producer
	Running Out Of Time	1999	Director, Producer
	Sealed With A Kiss	1999	Producer
	Where A Good Man Goes	1999	Director, Producer
	Expect The Unexpected	1998	Producer
	Hero Never Dies, A	1998	Director, Producer
	Longest Nite, The	1998	Producer
	Intruder	1997	Producer
	Lifeline	1997	Director
	Odd One Dies, The	1997	Producer
	Task Force	1997	Producer
	Too Many Ways To Be No. 1	1997	Producer
	Beyond Hypothermia	1996	Producer, Presenter
	Moment Of Romance III, A	1996	Director, Producer
	Loving You	1995	Director
	Only Fools Fall In Love	1995	Producer
	Bare-Footed Kid, The	1993	Director
	Executioners	1993	Director, Producer
	Heroic Trio, The	1993	Director
	Mad Monk, The	1993	Director
	Moment Of Romance II, A	1993	Producer
	Justice, My Foot !	1992	Director
	Lucky Encounter	1992	Director, Planning
	Banquet, The	1991	Brief appearance
	Casino Raiders 2	1991	Director
	Royal Scoundrel	1991	Director, Actor, Planning
	Sisters Of The World Unite	1991	Actor
	Fun, The Luck & The Tycoon, The	1990	Director, Planning
	Iron Butterfly II - See No Daylight, The	1990	Director, Producer, Actor
	Moment Of Romance, A	1990	Producer
	Story Of My Son, The	1990	Director, Writer
	All About Ah Long	1989	Director
	Iron Butterfly, The	1989	Director, Producer
	Big Heat, The	1988	Director
	Eighth Happiness, The	1988	Director
	Magnificent Warriors	1987	Assistant Director
	Seven Years Itch	1987	Director
	Happy Ghost 3	1986	Director
	Royal Warriors	1986	Second Unit Director
	Flying Fox Of Snowy Mountain, The	1985	Director, Writer
	It's A Drink, It's A Bomb	1985	Assistant Director
	Enigmatic Case, The	1980	Director