Law with Two Phases
Encyclopedia
Law with Two Phases also known as Law with Two Faces is a 1984
Hong Kong film
written and directed by the film's lead star Danny Lee in his second directorial outing.
. At the time, Lee was not well known to Chinese audiences, having appeared in low-budget productions such Heroic Cops, a film which marked early appearances by then-unknowns Chow Yun-fat
and Ng Man Tat
.
Hong Kong films centering on Hong Kong police at the time often relied on comedy rather than action. The American
film Dirty Harry
is said to have inspired filmmakers to bring a more true-to-life representation of life "behind the shield" to the screen (It is probably no small coincidence that Lee later named his production company "Magnum", after Harry Callahan's weapon of choice).
Lee's performance in the film earned him a Hong Kong Film Award, as a well as a Golden Horse Award. The film also helped usher in a new version of the police drama with its own visual styles and trademarks, such as everything being painted in shades of grey, and tinged with social resonance and blows of violence. The gritty, almost documentary
-like style and cinematography
was a bold charge against the almost cartoonish look of many action films of the time, and audiences, critics, and fellow directors responded.
Hong Kong films of 1984
A list of films produced in Hong Kong in 1984:.-1984:-External links:* * Hong Kong films of 1984 at...
Hong Kong film
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
written and directed by the film's lead star Danny Lee in his second directorial outing.
Impact on Hong Kong Cinema
Law with Two Phases launched Danny Lee's career as an actorActor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. At the time, Lee was not well known to Chinese audiences, having appeared in low-budget productions such Heroic Cops, a film which marked early appearances by then-unknowns Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
and Ng Man Tat
Ng Man Tat
Ng Man Tat was born on 2 January 1952. He is a veteran actor in the Hong Kong film industry, with dozens of awards under his belt, including Best Supporting Actor at the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in A Moment of Romance.-Biography:...
.
Hong Kong films centering on Hong Kong police at the time often relied on comedy rather than action. The American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
is said to have inspired filmmakers to bring a more true-to-life representation of life "behind the shield" to the screen (It is probably no small coincidence that Lee later named his production company "Magnum", after Harry Callahan's weapon of choice).
Lee's performance in the film earned him a Hong Kong Film Award, as a well as a Golden Horse Award. The film also helped usher in a new version of the police drama with its own visual styles and trademarks, such as everything being painted in shades of grey, and tinged with social resonance and blows of violence. The gritty, almost documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
-like style and cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
was a bold charge against the almost cartoonish look of many action films of the time, and audiences, critics, and fellow directors responded.