Story of Kennedy Town

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Year of release: 1990

Genre: drama

Director: Wu Ma

Action director: Ka Lee

Producer: Jackie Chan

Writer: Golden Way Creative Group

Cinematography: Raymond Lam

Editors: Ng Wang-Hung, Peter Cheung

Music: Johnny Yeung

Stars: Waise Lee, Mark Cheng, Aaron Kwok, Cheung Man, May Lo, Bill Tung, Tai Bo, Wu Ma, Billy Ching

Rated II for violence and language

This movie is available at www.hkflix.com

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Story of Kennedy Town  Story of Kennedy Town

Story of Kennedy Town  Story of Kennedy Town

A gritty look at low-level cops and criminals in 1960's Hong Kong, Wu Ma's 1990 movie Story of Kennedy Town has drawn comparisons to John Woo's Bullet in the Head (which was also released the same year) with some people going so far as to call this a rip-off of Woo's masterpiece, especially since Waise Lee stars in both films. While there is some sharing of thematic elements, to call Kennedy Town a rip-off is going a bit too far and takes away from a production that stands fine on its' own merits.

The story centers on three friends, Peng (Waise Lee), Chiang (Mark Cheng), and Wei (Aaron Kwok), who survive on the mean streets of the Kennedy Town neighborhood by committing petty crimes, which causes them to butt heads with the local gang boss, Ying (Billy Ching). After the trio is saved from a beating by Ying's gang via the intervention of Detective Huang (Wu Ma), they decide to enter the police academy. Since Peng is the only literate one of the group, he is the one who ends up entering the force, where he quickly finds that the cops aren't much more heroic than the criminals. But this does not deter Peng on his chosen path to success, to the point where he is willing to throw away the relationship he has with his "brothers".

While Story of Kennedy Town doesn't have the ferocity and violence of some similar films and has some suspect acting from the wooden visage of Aaron Kwok, it's still a well-made and interesting look at how life worked inside working-class neighborhoods in 1960's Hong Kong -- though, of course, there is more than a bit of melodrama planted in. Did Wei's girlfriend (played by May Lo) have to be made deaf so we would actually care about her? I guess it does actually give her some personality, unlike the vacuous Li (Cheung Man) who plays the standard "jade vase" role. Also, there are some uses of stereotypes, most notably the evil gweilo police commander, that might have some basis in reality and truth, but whose use to propel the story forward comes off as a bit hacky.

Overall, though, Wu Ma created one of his better directorial efforts outside of the martial arts arena with Story of Kennedy Town. Yes, it is cheesy and somewhat unbelievable at times, but it also provides some excitement via some well-crafted (but short) fight scenes and some genuine emotion, which goes a long way to giving the viewer a reason to care about the characters and setting the movie apart swimming in a sea of similar movies released during this period.

RATING: 7