User:FrostFairBlade/sandbox/An Autumn's Tale
An Autumn's Tale (Chinese: 秋天的童話; Jyutping: cau1 tin1 dik1 tung4 waa6; lit. 'autumn's fairy tale') is a 1987 Hong Kong romantic drama film directed by Mabel Cheung and written by Alex Law. It stars Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, and Danny Chan.
Plot
[edit]Cast
[edit]Production
[edit]Conception
[edit]- For her University of New York thesis project, Cheung and her boyfriend, Alex Law, had successfully funded her first film, Illegal Immigrant (1984)[1]
- She was able to persuade Shaw Brothers producer Mona Fong to give her HK$1 million to finance the project[2]
- Illegal Immigrant went on to earn a box office return of HK$5 million, and won Cheung a Best Director award at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1986[1]
Writing
[edit]- While living in America, she befriended an illegal immigrant nicknamed Wrinkled Lemon, whose kind generosity left an impression on Cheung and ultimately inspired the character of Figurehead[3][4]: 118 [note 1]
Development and pre-production
[edit]- Despite the success of her first film, Cheung struggled with finding financial backing for An Autumn's Tale[6]
- Under encouragement from fellow alumnus Chan Koonchung, Cheung sought out D&B Films founder John Shum to see if he was interested in the script[7]: 52
- Since they could not get American cinematographer James Hayman to come to Hong Kong with the rest of the film crew, Shum asked David Chung to step in as cinematographer[7]: 52 [8]
- The film's production budget was HK$4 million (approximately $500,000 USD), with salaries for the three lead actors adding up to less than HK$600,000[9]: 54
Casting
[edit]- For the role of Figurehead, Cheung only had Chow Yun-fat in mind; howevver, production companies balked at Chow's then-reputation as "box office poison"[4]: 118
Filming
[edit]- The film crew was arrested and fined for putting red paint on green tree leaves[10]
- Chow had to film a scene where he runs after Chung's character over the course of fifteen days[10]
- The indoor scenes were shot at a mansion in Kowloon Tong[11]: 140
Post-production
[edit]- The film was edited by multiple people in the editing department at D&B Films; Cheung recalled that any editor who was available would help edit a portion of the film[4]: 121–122
Music
[edit]Design
[edit]- Art director Yank Wong recalled that the limited space inside the Kowloon Tong mansion forced the crew to creatively divide the space to resemble different locations[11]: 140
- Because the corridor in the mansion wasn't long enough, they placed the camera in the centre, and filmed each half of the corridor as if they were two different corridors
- Wong changed the mansion's bottom floor until it resembled a basement apartment, installing higher windows and filming the location from above
- To get a shot where the cameraman follows an actor down the stairs in one shot, he had to uninstall the railings in order to make space for the camera
- For the outside party, Wong decided to use Christmas lights; he explained that it would be more appropriate to make the place look visually tackier
- He designed Chow's character's apartment with beaded curtains to highlight the character's transient occupation; the things at his residence are second-hand
Release
[edit]Context
[edit]Box office
[edit]Reception
[edit]Critical response
[edit]Awards and accolades
[edit]- An Autumn's Tale received three awards at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay (Law) and Best Cinematography (Hayman and Chung)[12]
Post-release
[edit]Home media
[edit]Other media
[edit]Themes
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Yiu, Enoch (2010-08-16). "Drama in real and reel life for filmmaker Mabel Cheung". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2022-06-29. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
- ^ "Chinese film coup". The Business Times. Singapore. 2011-03-04. Retrieved 2022-06-30 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "An Autumn's Tale (Restored Version)". Hong Kong Film Archive. Archived from the original on 2022-06-29. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
- ^ a b c "Mabel Cheung on Directing An Autumn's Tale". A Different Brilliance: The D&B Story (PDF). Interviewed by Janice Chow, Priscilla Chan, Carmen Tsoi, and Kwok Ching-ling; collated by Doris Chiu. Hong Kong Film Archive. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-29.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Shaw Brothers Movies: The Illegal Immigrant". Hong Kong Memory. Archived from the original on 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
- ^ Man, Phoebe (May 2010). "Double Rainbows" (PDF). Varsity. No. 116. Chinese University of Hong Kong. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
- ^ a b "John Sham: Diversification Strategies of a Resolute Producer". A Different Brilliance: The D&B Story (PDF). Interviewed by Janice Chow, Priscilla Chan, and Kwok Ching-ling; collated by Eric Tsang Siu-wang. Hong Kong Film Archive. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-29. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Hong Kong Filmmakers Search: David Chung" (PDF). Hong Kong Film Archive. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-29. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
- ^ Ford, Stacilee (2008). Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting's An Autumn's Tale. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-962-209-894-7.
- ^ a b Ho, Ai Li (2022-02-21). "Making Chow Yun Fat run for days: Veteran HK director Mabel Cheung on making An Autumn's Tale". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 2022-06-29. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
- ^ a b "Yank Wong: The Art Direction of The Lunatics and Several Others". A Different Brilliance: The D&B Story (PDF). Interviewed by Wong Ha-pak, Kwok Ching-ling, and Janice Chow; collated by Wong Ha-pak. Hong Kong Film Archive. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-29.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Keating, John (1988-04-17). "Oscar-sweeping Last Emperor gets cold shoulder in Hong Kong". Montreal Gazette. pp. B4. Retrieved 2022-06-30 – via ProQuest.