Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In

The Kowloon Walled City was probably one of the most tightly packed communities in the world, where buildings and shops of all shapes and heights were built and accessed by intricate of alleys. It inspired the look of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic Blade Runner and much of the cyberpunk genre, as well as an indoor theme park in Japan. In Soi Cheang’s big-budget action blockbuster Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, which is adapted from a popular novel originated from a comic series, the Kowloon Walled City is portrayed as a melting pot of honest blue-collar working people and various gangsters. Since the real Kowloon Walled City was torn down in 1990, the film’s production design crew and visual effects artists had to painstakingly re-create various sections of the enclave in studios and various vacant government buildings. Sights of the Walled City seen in the film include its narrow alleyways, various businesses, food stalls, dense tenement buildings, and the hidden nooks and crannies that ordinary people would never step into.

A Light Never Goes Out

Giant neon signs adorn the city’s major throughways for decades with dazzling lights, advertising all sorts of businesses. It is an integral part of Hong Kong culture. Though safety regulations have caused many of these signs to be taken down in recent years, neon lights have been immortalised in Anastasia Tsang’s directorial debut, A Light Never Goes Out. The moving drama stars Sylvia Chang as the widow of a former neon sign craftsman. When she learns that her late husband was re-creating one of his old signs before his death, she decides to learn the craft in order to fulfil his last wish. Made with real-life neon sign craftsmen as consultants, the film shows the painstaking process of making these signs in authentic details.