It was 1996.

The North American release of Rumble in the Bronx. As many movie goers in North America, it was my first real contact with Hong Kong movies. Of course I had heard of Bruce Lee and seen some films on “The Black Belt Theater” on Sunday afternoons, but that was it. But seeing this on a big screen, that was a first.

Jackie Chan. His charisma, the way he moves and all those stunts! From that moment, I was a fan. I needed to see every movie he had ever made. Now, a that moment in time, I had no idea it represented close to a hundred films. Even to this day I haven’t tracked down all of his movies.

That adventure opened a new world of movies to me, a world that is very different from the one I was used to. In that world I met many people, film makers and stars alike.

There were tons of movies to discover, dozens of actors and lots of surprises in store. As I said before, like many this was all new to me and it was wonderful.

Those were the golden years.

Popularity of Hong Kong cinema grew very quickly and everybody wanted in. Movie companies saw an opportunity and grabbed it. The public wanted movies, so they flooded the market. Quality did not matter, quantity did.

Today when picking up a Hong Kong movie, one needs to be careful. Looking at the director’s name will help or maybe who is satrring in it. Problem is, many stars made very questionnable choices in their carreers I believe that to be worldwide. So it is a guessing game. It can be helped by reading reviews from people who enjoy the genrein a place like LoveHKFilm.com or Asian Cult Cinema which is also avery good magazine.

What happens now is that others moved in the market with their movies. The Thai with, for instance, the so-so action film Ong Bak or the Korean with, as example, the masterpieceOld Boy. All this is very good for the movie goer though, it opens new horizons.

I am not saying there are no good Hong Kong films made nowadays, and I am not being nostalgic, far from it. All I am saying is we have to dig deeper to find gems.

Of course, now with DVD re-editions we have access to treasures of the past, but another problem prevents us from enjoying them : DVD zones. I am not going to get into this right now, but promise I will in the near future.

Meanwhile, enjoy your movies. Take chances. And hey, if it’s that bad, maybe it’ll give something to complain about.

Gog