Blood - stained Azaleas

A much more polished and accomplished work than The Evil Mind made four years earlier with a similar ensemble: Fung Yat-wai (adapting an original story by Ng Cho-fan) again served as screenwriter, starring Ng alongside Siu Yin Fei (also cast as a hapless victim) and Pak Yin. In a reversal of power and gender roles, Pak played a ruthless manipulator who uses Ng and dumps him. All in all, it was character development, cinematography, editing and art direction that took the film to the next level. Directed with a sure hand by Lee, the well-tailored scenes are propelled by finely crafted dramatic stakes that give the film a noir-esque quality – a testament that Hong Kong filmmaking had grown by leaps and bounds in just a few years.

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.