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| Tony Leung Ka Fai, Louis Koo Tin Lok, Gao Yuanyuan, and director Juno Mak dress up for the premiere |
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| Lin Chiling dresses up for her Cannes appearance courtesy of on.cc |
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| SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT director Juno Mak leads Gao Yuanyuan, Louis Koo and Tony Leung Ka Fai to attend the Cannes Film Festival premiere. Lead actor Takeshi Kaneshiro does not appear courtesy of singtao.com |
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| Tony Leung Ka Fai, Gao Yuanyuan, Louis Koo Tin Lok, and director Juno Mak appear on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet |
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| At the Cannes premiere, Juno Mak receives applause as he leads his team into the venue |
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| Takeshi Kaneshiro does not appear at the Cannes Film Festival but posts the SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT poster on his social media courtesy of mingpao.com |
At the 78th Cannes International Film Festival the Hong Kong directed Juno Mak Chun Lung produced, directed, written and art directed suspense film SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT (FUNG LUM FOR SHAN) was selected for the "Midnight Screening section" this year and held its world premiere in Cannes on May 17th. Juno led stars Louis Koo Tin Lok, Gao Yuanyuan and Tony Leung Ka Fai in the appearance. Lead actor Takeshi Kaneshiro (Gum Sing Mo) remained reclused and did not appear. When he heard the event playing the hit CARELESS WHISPER and the SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT film score, Leung Ka Fai even hummed along and danced. He also often fixed Gao Yuanyuan's dress and put his gentleman behavior on display.
SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT was Juno's second directorial work after RIGOR MORTIS (GEUNG SI), which took eight years to polish. The film was based on gangster drug trafficking and anti-drug power struggles, with its sharp aesthetic style and all-star lineup it has become one of the high-profile Chinese films at this year's film festival. Juno admitted that making this film was "like making six movies". After the film was screened, the audience stood and applauded. Director Juno thanked the audience in English. Leung Ka Fai said, "After watching the movie, I feel that I have no regrets about playing this role for the rest of my life. Being able to meet such a character and such a movie, I have already answered for my acting life."
Everyone stayed on the red carpet for about half a hour then entered the venue, which had no empty seat. Regarded as an "urban legend", SONS reportedly cost over HK$ 400 million. From preparation to production wrap, it has taken almost 10 years so far. This time at Cannes its veil of mystery was finally revealed and had plenty of responses. Some film critics praised the film to be full of aesthetics. Some however thought that it lacked emotions and narrative connections, which made it difficult for the audience to get into. Some said that the film was cut from the rumored 7 hours version to the current 132 minute version. Too much material did not have enough time to appear. If it was made into a series the result would be conceivably better.
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