Expired - Ryan Kwanten (2021) - Kansu Street, Yaumatei

Creepy Jack stalks April and follows her back to her apartment block. This is Kansu Street right next to the Alhambra building. If you have been following this blog for a while you may remember that Ghost in the Machine also filmed here, taking advatnage of the neon light of the Mahjong club seen in the top image. Here's a reminder.

Expired - Ryan Kwanten (2021) - Alley near Alameda Dr. Carlos d'Assumpção, Macau

In the world of movie magic where a location can be made up of multiple places, the club where April works is located in Macau, but not really. It's supposed to be in Hong Kong, but the film makers used an alleyway in Macau to stand in for the rear exit of the club. However, some shots also incorporated what looks to be an alley in neither Hong Kong or Macau, so I am guessing it was filmed back in Australia, which was then merged with the Macau location.

This nameless alley connects Praça De D. Afonso Henriques in the west with Alameda Dr. Carlos d'Assumpção in the east. The depth of field in the screenshot makes it difficult to see how far down the alley we are, but it looks like the camera was positioned further to the east, some where between Alameda Dr. Carlos d'Assumpção and Rua de Xangai.

Other shots of the same area appear to show a composite of another location, with this same alleyway and its neon signage, superimposed on the background.

Expired - Ryan Kwanten (2021) - Canal Road Flyover

There are quite a few scenic shots of Hong Kong from this film, some of which have been digitally altered to appear more futuristic (i.e. had some coloured lights added), but others appear to be fairly true to reality, including this one of the Canal Road Flyover. This is the view looking north, with Times Square on the extreme right. The low rise building top centre is the Wanchai Firestation.

Expired - Ryan Kwanten (2021) - Nelson Street, Mongkok

Jack emerges from the metro system at what is exit E1 of Mongkok station. This thoroughfare was originally Nelson Street but this section (and the same on the other side of Nathan Road where exit E2 is) is now fully pedestrianised. Also, the Langham Place Shopping Mall removed a big chunk of Nelson Street on this side of Nathan Road.

Expired - Ryan Kwanten (2021) - Prat Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui

I can't remember the reason behind Jack going to Prat Avenue as my brain had long switched off from what was going on, but he finds himself here in front of Wah Kee Snacks. This place was gone by the end of 2020 which gives a good indicator of when it was filmed.

Expired - Ryan Kwanten (2021) - Mongkok Road Pedestrian Bridge

Jack follows his target up onto the pedestrian flyover that runs above Mongkok Road.

Expired - Ryan Kwanten (2021) - Shantung Street, Mongkok

Jack is hired to kill a man and follows him from a laundrette down a alleyway, but passes along Shantung Street First with the Hollywood Shopping Centre in the background. That blue lighting has since been removed. Despite this movie only being a few years old so many businesses seen on screen have since disappeared, mainly thanks to Covid.

Expired - Ryan Kwanten (2021) - Soy Street, Mongkok

I'm going to finish up 2025 with a film I had heard about afew years back but then forgot about. I was expecting to hear more about it but, after watching it, I realise it sank into obscurity because it's just a bit of a dull film. Originally called Loveland, the film was renamed to Expired. Quite fitting because that's what happened to my interest about ten minutes into it.

To be fair it is a low-budget independent Australian movie. That doesn't excuse the confusing plot and uninspiring dialogue though. The locations are all over the shop, making it a real pain to post about them in any sort of linear fashion but the cinematography is nice. I just wish they had saved their money on the Hong Kong airfares and put it into some better "futuristic" effects though. You'd think shooting in Hong Kong would offer the opportunity of some great locations, but the vast majority are just the rather shabby looking streets of Mongkok, making me wonder what the point was. They could've just saved their dosh and filmed it in Australia, at least at street level. The film was released in 2021 but it looks like a pre-Covid Hong Kong on view. 

Anyway, the film centres around a hitman called Jack (Ryan Kwanten) who stalks, and then forms a friendship with, April (Jillian Nguyen), a girlie bar singer/performer. Jack's ill because he is the product of some sort of corporate experimentation and the company want him back for tests. But then all of a sudden he is better again and I have no idea why.

The film opens with Jack walking along Soy Street on his way to meet a policeman who tells him who to kill, and gives him the info and money. Soy Street is probably the most used location in the film and keeps cropping up from a variety of different angles throughout. I think I got them all, more or less, in the screencaps below which are from multiple points through the film.

The robot thing in that lower image (above) used to stand outside a cafe called "Double Happiness Cart Noodles" - 旺囍車仔麵. I think the place was a victim of Hong Kong Covid policy because it closed soon after the film was shot. The shop sign outside had a huge bowl of noodles stuck to it which also made it into the film (below).

Soy Street also pops up in a scene when Jack is being followed by a mystery bald man (Andrew Ng).

The west side of Soy Street also pops up later in the film as Jack tracks down and follows Dr Bergman (Hugo Weaving).

Weiße Fracht für Hongkong - Dietmar Schönherr (1963) - Cherry Street, Tai Kok Tsui

Another one of the old finds that I forgot to post back in the day. This one is from a sequence that sees the two male protagonists in the film, played by Brad Harris and Dietmar Schönherr, taking a rickshaw ride around whilst they sightsee. They stop on Cherry Street at the northern end of the old Yaumatei Typhoon Shelter.

The low-rise windowed building on the left was a row of factories/godowns, whose northern end (off screen to the left) marked the end of Argyle Street. It wasn't until this building was demolished that Argyle Street and Cherry Street were able to link up like they do today.

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Pentecostal Holiness Church Rousseau Memorial Church, Ap Lei Chau

The foot chase sequence in Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka is a mixture of footage shot over in Kowloon Bay, with the end part filmed in Ap Lei Chau. In one of the scenes we see Sutchuen (Maria Minh) trying to escape her pursuers and there is a small blue and white painted chapel in the background (back right in the below image). This was the original Pentecostal Holiness Church Rousseau Memorial Church on the Ap Lei Chau waterfront.

The church was demolished not long after and redeveloped in Rousseau Heights (亨利閣), an apartment building that still contains a version of the church. It's not clear if the Church organisation developed the building themselves or sold the land with the proviso of keeping a place of worship on site.