Hong Kong Dark Cinema: Film Noir, Re-Conceptions, and Reflexivity - Hardcover

by Kim-Mui E. Elaine Chan (Author)

This book is a scholarly investigation of the historical development and contemporary transformation of film noir in today's Hong Kong. Focusing on the evolvement of cinematic narratives, aesthetics, and techniques, the author balances a deep reading of the multiple filmic plots with a discussion of the cinematic portrayals of gender, romance, identities and power relations. Nuancing the prototypical cinematic form and tragic sense of classical film noir, the recent Hong Kong cinema turns around the classical generic role of film noir at the turn of the century to convey very different messages--joy, hope or love. This book examines how the mainstream cinema, or pre-and-post-Hong Kong cinema in particular, applies a peculiar strategy that makes rooms for the audience to enjoy a pleasure-giving process of reflexivity and also critique the mainstream ideology. With new analytical approaches and angles, this book breaks new ground in offering transcultural and cross-genre analyses on the cinema and its impact in local and international markets.

This book is the first major scholarly investigation of the historical development and contemporary transformation of film noir in today's Hong Kong. Focusing on the evolvement of cinematic narratives, aesthetics, and techniques, the author balances a deep reading of the multiple filmic plots with a refreshing discussion of the cinematic portrayals of gender, romance, identities and power relations. This book also revisits conceptual categories developed by Foucault, Lacan, Derrida and Butler.

Back Jacket

'Hong Kong Dark Cinema is a highly original and significant rethinking of film noir and neo-noir in Hong Kong film. Chan's detailed studies of key films are compelling accounts of the ways film directors have used narrative form and film style to explore the interrelationship of Hong Kong history and politics with questions of cultural and sexual identity.'
--Elizabeth Cowie, Emeritus Professor of Film Studies, University of Kent, UK

'Elaine Chan's book is both a re-examination of the history of Hong Kong cinema from the unique perspective of 'dark cinema' and a set of critical reflections on its present and future.... The importance of Elaine Chan's book Hong Kong Dark Cinema is that it is the first attempt to define what might be called the duende or dark spirit of Hong Kong cinema, while meticulously tracing its gradual emergence from a set of local conditions.'
-- Ackbar Abbas, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine, USA

'This brilliant work deepens our understanding of film noir in general and contextualizes its development in post-colonial Hong Kong in particular. It demonstrates how the genre has developed in heterogenous ways and in its artistic complexity. It succeeds in demonstrating Judith Butler's notion of simultaneous performativity and Derrida's différance and depicts them in filmic space. It expands our reading of Hong Kong cinema beautifully in volumetric dimensions.'
--Eva Man, Chair Professor in Humanities and Director of Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

'Hong Kong Dark Cinema provides the first sustained theoretical account of the transformation of film noir in Hong Kong. The changing situations of Hong Kong before and after its reversion to China provide the immediate context, but throughout the book Chan views this distinctive genre in relation to world cinema.... Having all sorts of valuable information and insights, this book will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Hong Kong's contribution to world cinema.'
-- Stephen Chu, Professor and Director of the Hong Kong Studies Programme, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Author Biography

Kim-mui E. Elaine Chan has been teaching film studies and cultural studies in Hong Kong for undergraduate and post-graduate core programmes respectively at Lingnan University and Hong Kong Baptist University since 2005. Her work has appeared in such academic journals as the Journal of Chinese Cinemas and the International Journal of Cinema. Chan received her PhD in Film Studies from the University of Kent, UK.