Lau Kar-leung’s martial arts films had made actors like Wong Yu, Gordon Liu Chia-hui, and Hsiao Hou greatly popular, but with My Young Auntie, he turned his attention to promoting the talents of a young female action star: Kara Wai. Despite her youth, Wai’s character is aunt to the significantly older Yu Zhengquan (Lau Kar-leung) and great-aunt to Yu Tao (Hsiao Hou), who is of a similar age to her. The contrast between Wai’s young age and her elder status gives rise to a lot of the film’s comedic scenes and at the same time also subverts traditional patriarchal structures in the martial arts world. Lau also took care to showcase Wai’s martial arts talent through meticulous fight choreography, including her first appearance in a long skirt that accentuates her high kicks, as well as her impressive handling of the Chinese sword, her somersaults and flips, and legwork. Wai did not disappoint and garnered the first Best Actress prize at the inaugural Hong Kong Film Awards, becoming one of Hong Kong cinema’s most enduring female action icons. Apart from Wai’s standout performance, Lau also took on a leading role in the film. His majestic moves and powerful stances in the final fight sequence of the film fully demonstrate his skills as one of the greatest martial arts masters ever to appear onscreen.

© Licensed by Celestial Pictures Limited. All rights reserved.

The contents of the programme do not represent the views of the presenter. The presenter reserves the right to change the programme should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.