Hong Kong Dark Cinema

‘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, Universityof 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 worldcinema…. 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