Cinema
A Better Tomorrow
英雄本色
John Woo · 1986
Synopsis
Song Tse-ho and his friend Mark make counterfeit money for a Hong Kong triad, in the service of an old godfather, and Ho hides this trade from his younger brother Kit, who joins the police. A delivery in Taiwan turns into an ambush: Ho gives himself up, their father is killed, and Mark, who avenges his friend, loses the use of a leg there. Three years later, Ho is released from prison and becomes a taxi driver; but Kit holds him responsible for their father's death.
Context
The film was produced by Tsui Hark and the company Cinema City; it freely reworks a 1967 film by Patrick Lung, whose Chinese title it keeps. Released in Hong Kong on 2 August 1986, it stayed sixty-one days in cinemas and was the first hit of the year. Senses of Cinema and hkfilm.net see in it the turning point in the careers of John Woo and Chow Yun-fat; its stylised shootouts are at the origin of the genre known as heroic bloodshed. It was released in France on 21 July 1993.
Who it is for
A ninety-five-minute action film in Cantonese, with many shoot-outs; distributed in France by Metropolitan.
Prizes and reception
At the 1987 Hong Kong Film Awards it received the prizes for best film and best actor, for Chow Yun-fat.
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