5 biopics about Hong Kong icons to watch after Anita, from martial arts film series Ip Man starring Donnie Yen, to Michelle Yeoh’s star-studded The Soong Sisters

Nov 19 , 2021

Hong Kong icon Maggie Cheung as the prominent Chinese silent film actress Ruan Lingyu in Center Stage. Photo: Golden Harvest

Andy Lau gives a searing performance in Lee Rock, while the popular Ip Man series chronicles the life of the wing chun grandmaster who taught Bruce Lee

Maggie Cheung bagged an award at the Berlin International Film Festival for her stunning portrayal of Chinese silent film actress Ruan Lingyu in Center Stage

Turning a famous person’s life story into a biopic for the big screen is not easy. Since a biopic is not necessarily an accurate account of the subject as compared to a documentary, there has to be the right balance of facts and fiction to make the film equally realistic and entertaining.

If you enjoyed the recent popular and touching movie Anita about the life of late Canto-pop legend Anita Mui Yim-fong, the below biopics are all worth spending your time on too.

Center Stage

Directed by Stanley Kwan Kam-pang and starring Hong Kong icon Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Center Stage recounts the life of prominent Chinese silent film actress Ruan Lingyu, who rose to fame in Shanghai during the 1930s.

The 1991 film follows a unique storytelling format – Ruan’s rise to stardom in her late teens, her complicated love life and her tragic death in her mid-20s are interspersed with conversations between the director and various actors, as well as interviews with Ruan’s contemporaries. These clips offer another angle to the Chinese cinema icon’s life.

Cheung was awarded the Silver Bear for best actress award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1992 for her stunning performance.

Lee Rock

Starring one of Hong Kong’s “Four Heavenly Kings” Andy Lau Tak-wah as the main character, this film is inspired by former Hong Kong detective staff sergeant Lui Lok – nicknamed Lee Rock – his rise to power, and the corruption of the police force between the 1960s and 1970s during British colonial Hong Kong.

The names of the characters have all been changed because of inconsistencies with reality. For example, one of Lui’s key rivals in the film is Sergeant Ngan Tung, yet in reality, a man named Ngan Hung was his loyal subordinate. The character Bill Lee, played by Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, is Lui’s son, an ICAC officer with a key role in the sequel Lee Rock II. But in fact, he is completely fictional.