陳秋霞、成龍、《英雄本色》與南韓的香港電影熱潮

李尚埈 南洋理工大學黃金輝傳播與資訊學院亞洲電影副教授

任何一個於1980年代在南韓成長的青少年，必 定會記得當年香港電影及流行文化在本地文化 領域中出現過的盛況。香港電影在南韓一直被 視為「低級」文化產品，儘管「港產」武俠片 及功夫片在本地十分賣座，大部分本地知識分 子卻對這些影片嗤之以鼻。然而，自1980年代 開始，香港電影在南韓的地位迅速改變。1976 年上映的《秋霞》觀眾反應熱烈，隨後成龍主 演的《醉拳》（ 1978 ）更打破歷來的票房紀 錄，將一向被視為「工人階級文化」的香港電 影變成「大眾流行文化」。這兩部電影分別屬 於劇情片及功夫喜劇，從此成為1980年代香港 電影在南韓最受歡迎的主流類型，直至1980年 代後期，被本地影評人稱為「香港黑色電影」 的黑幫片出現為止。在整個1980年代，香港電 影是南韓最受歡迎及最具影響力的外國電影， 甚至威脅荷里活在韓國本地電影市場的地位。 這篇短文旨在記述「香港電影熱潮」在南韓的 興衰：從1970年代末陳秋霞和成龍主演的電影 開始，到1980年代中由周潤發、劉德華和張國 榮主演的香港黑幫片，然後在1990年代初由林 青霞主演的武俠片，令這個類型再度盛行，但 香港電影熱潮亦於此時開始退卻。

Courtesy of the Korean Film Archive

〈One Summer Night〉

〈One Summer Night〉自從1976年首次推出後， 一直是一首廣受南韓大眾喜愛的「流行曲」。與鍾鎮 濤合唱這首歌的陳秋霞亦因此在南韓一夜成名， 躋身超級巨星的行列。她於1977年出席MBC電 視台的周末綜藝節目，引來轟動反應。陳秋霞是 首位出現於南韓的粵語流行歌星，她清純的外 表、柔和的歌聲與真摯的感情，令韓國觀眾大 16 為傾倒。2001年，MBC FM電台的「金唱片」 活動讓一群聽眾選出50首最受韓國人喜愛的流 行曲；〈One Summer Night〉名列第9位，排 在Wham的〈Last Christmas〉之後。陳秋霞 於退隱多年後，在2005年重臨南韓，為她的歌 迷舉行個人演唱會。一如所料，演唱會以一曲 〈One Summer Night〉作為壓軸，而當鍾鎮濤 出乎意外地在舞台上現身時，更令在場所有觀眾 驚喜萬分。陳秋霞在南韓的網上歌影迷會，至今 仍然存在。

〈One Summer Night〉是1976年熱門賣座電影 《秋霞》的主題曲，該片是南韓當年的外語片票 房冠軍。這是一部地區合拍電影，在台灣、香港 和南韓取景。《秋霞》的英文片名為《Chelsia, My Love》，影片於1976年9月在南韓上映時，改 為《Susanna, My Love》，這個改動反映出本片 的南韓聯合製片人及發行商Dong-A Pictures想利 用觀眾對李菁主演的《珊珊》（1967，英文片名 就是《Susanna》）的深刻印象來推銷，因為這 部電影於1970年在南韓的票房獨占鰲頭。《秋 霞》上映翌年，嘉禾讓陳秋霞與鍾鎮濤再度攜手 合作，推出新片《第二道彩虹》（1977）。這 部電影並非《秋霞》的續集，在香港及南韓兩地 亦未見賣座。《第二道彩虹》與《秋霞》一樣， 有部分外景在南韓拍攝。對韓國影迷來說，《秋 霞》證明了香港電影並非只有王羽刀光劍影的武 俠片和李小龍拳來腳往的功夫片。

成龍稱霸的1980年代

另一部代表那個年代的電影，就是成龍的《醉 拳》 （ 1978 ），由袁和平導演，講述少年黃 飛鴻的故事；影片於 1979 年 9 月上映，吸引了 890,000 名觀眾入場，是個驚人的數字。《醉 拳》成為南韓歷來收入最高的外語電影，並一直 保持這個紀錄，直到1985年夏季才由《戰火屠 城》（1984）打破。正當成龍的《醉拳》引起轟 動之際，南韓同時亦瀕臨騷亂邊緣。1979年10 月26日，南韓總統朴正熙被其情報部主管槍殺身 亡。這位執掌全國政權接近20年的強勢總統突然 遇刺，令政局陷入混亂。1979年12月12日，時 任國軍保安司令的全斗煥少將發動軍事政變，宣 佈實施戒嚴令。

在種情況下，成龍正好填補了本地商業片留下的 空白。《A計劃》在香港及日本大收旺場之後， 於1984年7月來到南韓上映。該片立即成為熱門 賣座電影，將成龍在韓國的地位，提升至與湯告 魯斯、李察基爾及洛魯等荷里活明星同一水平。 整個1980年代，成龍一直稱霸南韓的外語電影 市場，特別是由1984年（《A計劃》）至1991 年（《飛鷹計劃》）。在這段期間，成龍的電影 在本地全都極為賣座。成龍在尚未成名之前，於

多部韓國及香港合拍的影片中演出一些小角色， 因此曾多次前往南韓拍戲，他的影迷對這一點特 別受落。成龍曾說：「我以前是個微不足道的特 技演員，經常往返香港和南韓，從那時開始，我 已將南韓視為第二故鄉，我非常感謝將我當作 人來看待的人。」成龍將南韓稱作他的「第二故 鄉」，由此贏得南韓影迷的愛戴。成龍的動作喜 劇以巴黎、巴塞羅那、馬德里、東京、香港、摩 洛哥及鹿特丹等地為背景，影迷對這種製作規模 嘆為觀止，稱之為「荷里活級數」。1980年代 香港電影製作的品質及技術上的成就，都是本地 電影望塵莫及的。香港電影作為一種娛樂方式， 地位僅次於荷里活。套用當年一位本地影評人的 話，香港電影是「我們夢想的電影」。直至1980 年代末，成龍一直稱霸南韓。1990年代，由成龍 主演的兩部賣座電影《飛鷹計劃》（1991）及 《醉拳II》（1994）上映過後，他不再是韓國票 房的霸主。進入新的千禧年代後，成龍再也無復 1980年代的受歡迎程度。1980年代，《少林寺》 （1982）、《殭屍先生》（1985）以及該片的 多部續集與衍生作品，是香港電影最風光的時 候。接著，持槍的周潤發出現，掀起第二波香港 電影熱潮。

英雄顯本色

南韓tvN電視台於2015年推出熱播劇集《請回 答 1988 》， 是分別以 1997 年及 1994 年為背景 的懷舊劇集「請回答」三部曲的最後一部，該 劇集的第一集將 1980 年代末南韓的氣氛再次 重現。一位四十多歲的女士憶述她少女時代的 生活，她開始講述時，背景以蒙太奇畫面交織 出當年流行文化的一些重要時刻：「男孩都喜 愛王祖賢，女孩都喜愛湯告魯斯和 New Kids on the Block。」她說，但有一部電影卻令人 人都深深喜愛，「那就是《英雄本色 II》」。 電影在一部細小的電視機上播放，五個少年屏 息靜氣，看得入神。她的敘述以這句話作結： 「那是1988年9月。」

《英雄本色》與《倩女幽魂》於1987年在南韓 上映，也就是在 1988 年 8 月南韓舉行歷史性的 奧運會之前一年。不過，這兩部電影在首輪上 映時賣座並不理想。令人意想不到的是，當這 兩部電影移師到首爾（當年稱為漢城）市郊及 一些郊區小鎮的「兩片聯映」二輪電影院放映 時，卻吸引到兩類片商夢寐以求的影迷：青少 年及大學生。從 1988 年到 1992 年，是香港電 影熱潮的第二個高峰，以周潤發為首，統領一 支由張國榮、劉德華、王祖賢、鍾楚紅及張曼 玉組成、星光璀璨的「黃金軍隊」。《英雄本 色 II》於1988年7月22日於南韓公映。《英雄本 色 II》上映時，跟曾在二線戲院公映的第一集 不同，影迷大排長龍，渴望入場觀看周潤發大 開殺戒的極度暴力場面。《英雄本色 II》吸引 了逾200,000名影迷進入戲院。1988年12月， 本地電影雜誌《Screen》刊出當年公映電影的 「影迷5大最愛」名單。青少年及20至30歲觀眾 均以《英雄本色》名列第一位，第二及第三位 分別為《虎膽龍威》（1988）及《歌手正傳》 （1987）。讀者最喜愛的五位明星結果同樣驚 人，青少年及20至30歲觀眾都將周潤發排在首 位。在1980年代末的南韓，香港電影明星確實 比荷里活影星更受歡迎，更具影響力。

《英雄本色II》在南韓非常賣座，隨後1988及 1989年的電影市場上充斥大量周潤發主演的電 影，包括黑幫片、動作懸疑片、愛情喜劇及劇 情片等。《龍虎風雲》（ 1987 ）、《賭神》 （ 1989 ）、《秋天的童話》（ 1987 ）、《夢 中人》（1986）、《阿郎的故事》（1989）、 《喋血雙雄》（ 1989 ）及《英雄本色 III ：夕 陽之歌》（ 1989 ）都是在這段期間內上映。 香港電影熱潮亦蔓延至流行音樂，張國榮在地 位舉足輕重的韓國電視網絡 MBC 舉行「迷你 演唱會」，並於 1989 年在一座體育館內舉行 流行音樂會。數月後，王祖賢亦舉行相同的活 動。周潤發、張國榮及王祖賢亦為朱古力及汽 水等產品拍攝電視廣告。張國榮主唱的英文歌 〈To You〉被用於他主演的電視廣告中，並成 為1989年其中一首最廣受歡迎的「流行曲」。 劉德華於1991年8月在奧林匹克體操競技場舉行 為期三天的演唱會，將這個熱潮推至顛峰。同 年，有南韓首位VJ（影像騎師）之稱的Jackie Lim在韓國首家有線音樂電視台Mnet上推出一

Courtesy of the Korean Film Archive

個名為《Orient Express東邦特急》的節目。 在日本及香港長大的Lim在節目內向南韓觀眾推 介粵語流行曲的音樂錄像。

1980 年代末，南韓出現新一代電影迷，他 們全心全意擁護香港電影。全新的電影雜誌 《Roadshow》於1989年4月創刊，從此這份月 刊成了南韓新一代電影迷奉為圭臬的經典。該雜 17

誌大膽地將吳宇森和徐克稱為電影作者，並且推 介香港新浪潮導演如王家衛、關錦鵬、許鞍華、 麥當雄、方育平及林嶺東等。關錦鵬的《地下 情》（1986）及《胭脂扣》（1988）、麥當雄 的《省港旗兵》（1984）、許鞍華的《客途秋 恨》（1990）、徐克的《刀馬旦》（1986）、 王家衛的《旺角卡門》（1988）及《阿飛正傳》 （1990）等影片，均受到舉國好奇的年輕電影迷 及影評人熱烈歡迎。

林青霞與香港電影熱退潮

《笑傲江湖II：東方不敗》（1992）是令香港 電影在南韓達至高峰的作品。林青霞受歡迎的 熱烈程度，可以用「發燒」來形容，全國的電 視台爭相邀請她出席綜藝節目。這是香港電影 熱潮在南韓達到高峰的時刻，但同時也是熱潮 開始退卻的時候。在《笑傲江湖II：東方不敗》 獲得巨大成功之後，香港電影的受歡迎程度卻 日漸走下坡。此後，香港電影再也無復1992年 的風光。有多個原因導致香港電影熱潮在南韓 消退。首先，早已在資深本地觀眾心目中消失 的南韓電影，捲土重來，回歸商業片市場。其 次，這個時期有不少香港電影製作質素低劣， 令觀眾卻步。最後，南韓的電影迷開始關注「其 他」華語電影，特別是台灣及中國電影。其中 陳凱歌的《霸王別姬》（1993）更引發南韓觀 眾對中國第五代導演的興趣。

流風餘韻

柳河於 2004 年執導的《霸拳》（又名： 《 1978 年高 校往事》），以 1970 年代為背 景；權相佑飾演的主角鉉洙，於一所充滿校 園欺凌、師生行為均非常暴力的高中內就 讀，他為求自保而學習截拳道。他崇拜李小 龍，又與暗戀的女孩一起聽陳秋霞唱的〈One Summer Night 〉。電影的故事於 1979 年結 束，最後見到鉉洙站在一家正上映《醉拳》 的電影院前面。《天地男兒：激進黨員》 （ 2000 ）是首部在中國拍攝的南韓電影，講 述幾位主角於 1920 年代的上海，為爭取韓國 獨立而戰。電影的結局是所有主角全部以「香 港風格」的轟烈方式死去。韓國電影於 2000 年代再度復興，當時有「動作小子」之稱的柳 昇完承認，他受成龍影響最深。他 2004 年執 導的《阿羅漢》，就是向 1980 年代成龍的功 夫喜劇致敬。導演金知雲在拍《不悔》（又名 《甜蜜人生》， 2004 ）最後一場槍戰戲時， 運用的手法令觀眾想起 1980 年代末吳宇森的 黑幫片。此外，曾執導由香港女星張柏芝主演 的《白蘭》（2001）的宋海星，於2010年將吳 宇森的《英雄本色》重拍一個南韓版本。數年 後，游乃海初次執導即鋒芒畢露的懸疑片《跟 蹤》（2007）於韓國重拍，名為《天眼跟蹤》 （ 2007 ）。再近期一點，類似的重拍有《毒 戰寒流》（ 2018 ），將杜琪峯的經典之作 18 《毒戰》（ 2012 ）改以南韓為背景。在這一 節內提及的電影人，全都於 1970 及 80 年代看 香港電影長大。1980年代在南韓出現的香港電 影熱潮，確實在南韓電影中留下不容忽視的印 記。

李尚埈

李尚埈是新加坡南洋理工大學亞洲電影副教授，曾著作 《電影與文化冷戰：美國外交與亞洲電影網絡的起源》 （2020），並且是《韓流2.0：社交媒體時代的韓流》 （2015）和《重新發現韓國電影》（2019）的編輯。

翻譯：藍天雲

Chelsia, Jackie, A Better Tomorrow, and the Hong Kong Syndrome in South Korea

Sangjoon Lee

Associate Professor of Asian Cinema, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University

Anyone who spent their teens in South Korea in the 1980s will surely remember the belle epoque of Hong Kong cinema and pop culture in the local cultural sphere. Hong Kong films had long been known as ‘low-end’ cultural products in South Korea, and most local intellectuals loathed them despite the popularity of ‘made in Hong Kong’ wuxia and kung fu films at the local box office. Beginning in the 1980s, however, the location of Hong Kong cinema in South Korea changed rapidly. The huge success of Chelsia, My Love (秋霞) in 1976 and the record-breaking sensation of Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master (1978) brought what had been considered to be ‘working-class men’s culture’ to the realm of ‘everyone’s popular cultures.’ The films’ respective genres, melodrama and kung fu comedy, became the dominant genres of the 1980s reception of Hong Kong cinema in South Korea, until gangster films, which local critics called ‘Hong Kong noir’, emerged in the latter half of the decade. Throughout the decade, Hong Kong cinema was the most popular and powerful foreign cinema in South Korea and even threatened the status of Hollywood in South Korea’s local film market. This short essay chronicles the rise and fall of the ‘Hong Kong syndrome’ in South Korea, from the late 1970s’ Chelsia Chan and Jackie Chan to the mid-1980s’ Hong Kong gangster films of Chow Yun-fat, Andy Lau and Leslie Cheung, and then to the early 1990s’ return to wuxia with Brigitte Lin, which eroded the syndrome.

Courtesy of the Korean Film Archive

“One Summer Night”

“One Summer Night” has been one of the most beloved ‘pop songs’ in South Korea since its initial release in 1976. Chelsia Chan, who sang with Kenny Bee on “One Summer Night”, became an overnight superstar in South Korea. Her appearance on MBC’s weekend variety show in 1977 produced a sensation. Chan’s innocent appearance, soft voice, and pure emotion fascinated Korean viewers. Chan was the first Cantopop star in South Korea. In 2001, MBC FM radio’s ‘Golden Disc’ selected Koreans’ favourite 50 pop songs based on a pool of listeners, and “One Summer Night” was ranked 9, just behind Wham’s “Last Christmas”. Chan, after many decades of hiatus, returned to South Korea and performed a solo concert for the fans in 2005. “One Summer Night”, predictably, was the grand finale, and everyone was surprised when Kenny Bee unexpectedly appeared on stage. Chan’s Korea-based Internet fan club still exists today.

“One Summer Night” was the theme song of the 1976 smash-hit film Chelsia, My Love. It was the year’s number-one foreign box office hit in South Korea. As a regional co-production film, Chelsia, My Love was shot in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. In South Korea, the film was released in September 1976 under the title Susanna, My Love. This change in the title surely reflected an attempt on the part of Dong-A Pictures, the film’s South Korean co-producer and distributor, to capitalise on the recent memory of Li Ching’s Susanna (珊珊, 1967), which had topped the box office in South Korea in 1970. One year later, in 1977, Golden Harvest brought back the couple – Chelsia Chan and Kenny Bee – and released Rainbow in My Heart (第二道彩虹, 1977). This film was not a sequel of Chelsia, My Love and did not perform well in either country. Like Chelsia, My Love, Rainbow in My Heart was shot partially in South Korea. To Korean movie fans, Chelsia, My Love proved that Hong Kong cinema was more than just Wang Yu’s swordplay and Bruce Lee’s kung fu kicks.

Jackie Ruled the 1980s

Another film that defined the decade was Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master (1978), a Yuen Wooping’s young Huang Fei-hung film that drew a whopping 890,000 viewers in September 1979. Drunken Master became the top grossing foreign-language film in South Korean history and maintained the record until The Killing Fields (1984) broke it in summer 1985. When Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master made its big splash, South Korea was on the brink of turmoil. On 26 October 1979, South Korea’s President Park Chung-hee was fatally shot by his intelligence chief. The sudden assassination of the powerful president who had controlled the country for nearly two decades threw the political sector into chaos. On 12 December 1979, Major General Chun Doo-hwan, head of the Defense Security Command, staged a coup within the military and declared martial law.

Under these circumstances, Jackie Chan filled the void left by local commercial film. After a phenomenal success in Hong Kong and Japan, Project A arrived in South Korea in July 1984. It became an instant hit and elevated Chan’s status in Korea to the level of Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise, Richard Gere and Rob Rowe. Chan ruled

South Korea’s foreign film market throughout the 1980s, particularly from 1984 (Project A) to 1991 (Armour of God 2). During this time, no Chan film failed at the local box office. The fact that Chan had been to South Korea numerous times before his stardom to play minor roles in South Korea–Hong Kong co-production films particularly appealed to his fans. Chan said, “Ever since I was a poor stunt actor who travelled back and forth between Hong Kong and South Korea, I have been thinking of South Korea as my second homeland. I really appreciate people who treat me as a human being.” By calling South Korea his “second homeland”, Chan stole the hearts of his South Korean fans. These fans were amazed to see what they called the “Hollywood-size scale” of Chan’s action-comedy films set in Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Morocco, and Rotterdam. The production quality and technical achievements of Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s were on a level that local cinema could not yet dream of. As a form of entertainment, Hong Kong cinema ranked right below Hollywood. In the words of a local film critic, Hong Kong cinema was “our dream cinema”. Chan’s reign in South Korea lasted until the late 1980s. After two starring turns in major hit films of the 1990s – Armour of God 2 (1991) and Drunken Master 2 (1994) – Chan ceased to dominate South Korea’s box office. In the new millennium, Chan never regained the popularity he enjoyed in the 1980s. With Shaolin Temple (1982) and Mr. Vampire (1985) and its many sequels and spin-offs, Hong Kong cinema had its most glorious days in the 1980s. Subsequently, the second wave of Hong Kong cinema syndrome emerged with a man with a gun – Chow Yun-fat.

A Better Tomorrow Moment

In a hugely popular South Korean TV series Reply 1988 (tvN, 2015), the third of the nostalgic Reply Trilogy that had previously been set in 1997 and 1994, the first episode recaptures the air of late1980s South Korea. A woman, now in her midforties, narrates, recalling her youthful days. Her voice begins on the backdrop montage of some of the signature moments in pop culture of the era: “Boys loved Joey Wong and girls loved Tom Cruise and New Kids on the Block.” There was one movie, she says, that everyone fell in love with. And “it was A Better Tomorrow 2”. The movie plays on a tiny television set as five teens watch with bated breath. Her narration ends with the line, “It’s September 1988.”

One year before South Korea’s historic Olympic games in August 1988, A Better Tomorrow and A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) were released in South Korea. Both films, however, failed to make an impact on the local box office during their first-run screenings. Surprisingly, when the films moved on to the second-run ‘double-feature’ theatres on the outskirts of Seoul and in suburban towns, they managed to attract two coveted fandoms: teenagers and college students. Between 1988 and 1992, the second peak of the Hong Kong syndrome, Chow Yun-fat was the leader of a ‘golden army’ of stars – Leslie Cheung, Andy Lau, Joey Wong, Cherie Chung, and Maggie Cheung. A Better Tomorrow 2 had its South Korean release on 22 July 1988. Unlike the first instalment, which had been screened in a second-tier theatre, A Better Tomorrow 2 was greeted with a long line of fans who were anxious to see Chow’s ultraviolent mass killing. A Better Tomorrow 2 brought over 200,000 fans to the theaters. In December 1988, a local film magazine Screen published its annual “movie fan’s Top 5” of the year’s releases. A Better Tomorrow ranked first among both teens and viewers in their twenties, followed by Die Hard (1988) and La Bamba (1987). The readers’ top five favourite stars were striking. Chow ranked first for both teens and viewers in their twenties. Indeed, Hong Kong film stars were much more popular and influential than Hollywood stars, at least in late-1980s South Korea.

Following the huge success of A Better Tomorrow 2, the South Korean film market was flooded with films starring Chow in 1988 and 1989 – gangster films, action thrillers, romantic comedies, and melodramas. City on Fire (1987), God of Gamblers (1989), The Autumn’s Tale (1987), Dream Lovers (1986), All About Ah Long (1989), The Killer (1989), and A Better Tomorrow 3 (1989) were released during this period. Hong Kong syndrome also expanded to include pop music. Leslie Cheung held a ‘mini concert’ for MBC, the nation’s influential network TV station, and a stadium pop concert in 1989. Joey Wong did the same several months later. Chow, Cheung, and Joey Wong shot TV commercials for chocolate and soft drinks. Cheung’s English-language song “To You,” used for his TV commercial, became one of the most popular ‘pop songs’ in 1989. The culmination was Andy Lau’s three-day pop concert at the Olympic Gymnastics Stadium, held in August 1991. In the same year, Jackie Lim, known as South Korea’s first VJ (Video Jockey), launched a show called “Orient Express 東邦特急” for Mnet, the nation’s first music cable channel. Lim, who grew up in Japan and Hong Kong, introduced South Koreans to Cantopop music videos.

In the late 1980s, South Korea’s new cinephilia was also born. The new cinephiles embraced Hong Kong cinema wholeheartedly. A new monthly film magazine, Roadshow, launched its first issue in April 1989. Roadshow became a monthly bible for South Korea’s new cinephiles. The magazine boldly named John Woo and Tsui Hark as film auteurs and introduced Hong Kong New Wave directors such as Wong Karwai, Stanley Kwan, Ann Hui, Johnny Mak, Allen Fong, and Ringo Lam. Kwan’s Love Unto Waste (1986) and Rouge (1988), Mak’s Long Arm of the Law (1984), Hui’s Song of the Exile (1990), Hark’s Peking Opera Blues (1986), and Wong’s As Tears Go By (1988) and Days of Being Wild (1990) were received enthusiastically by the nation’s curious young cinephiles and critics.

Brigitte Lin and the Demise of Hong Kong Syndrome

The Swordsman 2 (1992) was the peak of Hong Kong cinema in South Korea. Brigitte Lin’s popularity was intense enough to be called a “syndrome”, and most of the nation’s TV networks competed to invite her onto their variety shows. This was the peak of Hong Kong cinema syndrome in South Korea. At the same time, it was the beginning of its demise. After the monumental success of Swordsman 2, Hong Kong cinema gradually lost its popularity. Since then, Hong Kong cinema has never regained the status it held in 1992. Several factors brought about the demise of Hong Kong cinema in South Korea. First, South Korean cinema, which had largely disappeared from sophisticated local audiences’ imaginary maps,

returned to mainstream commercial cinema. Second, the low production quality of many Hong Kong films of this period alienated audience members. Lastly, South Korean cine-mania increasingly focused on ‘other’ Chinese-language cinemas, especially films made in Taiwan and China. In particular, Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine (1993) ignited South Koreans’ interest in China’s fifth-generation filmmakers.

Legacy

In Yoo Ha’s 2004 film Once Upon a Time in High School, Kwon Sang-woo, who plays Hyeon-su, the leading character, practices Jeet Kune Do to protect himself and survive in the violent military culture of a high school in the late 1970s. He idolises Bruce Lee and listens to Chan’s “One Summer Night” with a girl he secretly loves. The film ends in 1979, showing Hyeon-su standing in front of a theatre where Drunken Master is playing. The Anarchist (2000), the first South Korean cinema that was shot in China, ends with the ‘Hong Kong–style’ heroic deaths of all of the major characters as they fight for Korea’s independence in Shanghai in the 1920s. Ryoo Seung-wan, who is often called as an ‘action kid’ in the 2000s renaissance of South Korean cinema, confessed that it was Jackie Chan who had influenced him the most. His 2004 film Arahan was an homage to the 1980s Jackie Chan kung fu comedy films. Kim Ji-woon choreographed the final shootout sequence of his 2004 film A Bittersweet Life to remind the audience of the late 1980s John Woo gangster films. On top of this, Song Hae-sung, who directed Failan (2001) with the Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung, remade a South Korean version of Woo’s A Better Tomorrow in 2010. Several years later, Yau Naihoi’s intelligent debut thriller Eye in the Sky (2007) was remade in South Korea under the new title Cold Eyes (2013). More recently, Believer (2018) reimagined Johnnie To’s masterpiece Drug War (2012) in a South Korean setting. All of the filmmakers mentioned in this section grew up watching Hong Kong cinema during the 1970s and 1980s. Certainly, the Hong Kong syndrome of the 1980s in South Korea left a mark on South Korean cinema that cannot be taken lightly.

Sangjoon LEE

Sangjoon Lee is an associate professor of Asian cinema at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Lee is the author of Cinema and the Cultural Cold War: US Diplomacy and the Origins of the Asian Cinema Network (2020) and the editor of Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social Media (2015) and Rediscovering Korean Cinema (2019). Once Upon a Time in High School

© CJ ENM

Drug War

Courtesy of Media Asia Film Distribution (HK) Limited