The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio - Toma Ikuta (2016) - View from the Peak, Hong Kong

Another Takashi Miike effort for the blog, this time the more recent The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio. It's the sequel to an earlier movie starring Toma Ikuta as an undercover cop, Reiji, who has infiltrated a Yakuza gang. In this film he is given the job of looking after the boss's daughter only to have her kidnapped by a rival gang and whisked away to Hong Kong to be sold as part of a auction.

About two thirds of the film is set in Japan and then after the kidnap the action moves, via a cartoonish plane flight, to Hong Kong. The first shot of Hong Kong is the usual view from the peak, although in this case the wall in the top image is superimposed. If you look closely at the second less obscured view you can just about see the trail of smoke (just to the right of the BoC Tower) from the cartoon plane as it flies out of control towards the harbour.

The Suspect 용의자 - Gong Yoo (2013) - Woosung Street, Kowloon

The final Hong Kong-shot scene for this film involves the sequence when the two bad guys decide to sell Ji Gong-jul's daughter to Chinese human-traffickers. The exchange takes place on Woosung Street in Yau Ma Tei. The key identifiers here are the sign for the 合興火鍋 hot pot restaurant in the background of the top image (blue/red sign in the distance), followed by the outdoor restaurants that can be seen on the right in the second image. They are located where Woosung and Temple Streets are intersected by Pak Hoi Street.

The Suspect 용의자 - Gong Yoo (2013) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Hong Kong

After quietly abandoning his enemy on board the wrecked ship in the harbor, and knowing that he has been abandoned on his mission, Ji Dong-chul (Gong Yoo) does a runner, well a swimmer really. This brief scene, shot in the typhoon shelter shows him making his escape by swimming away. After this he is recaptured by the North and tortured whilst learning about his family being killed. There is a brief snippet of him swimming away, but something tells me it wasn't filmed here and was most likely added later from the comfort of cleaner water.

The Suspect 용의자 - Gong Yoo (2013) - Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

Next up - a quicky. One of those films that briefly moves into Hong Kong for a minor part of the story whereas most of the film takes place elsewhere. In this case it's South Korea and The Suspect (용의자).

It's a 2013 film about a former North Korean soldier (Gong Yoo) who defects to the south in order to find out who killed his family. Working as a driver for a wealthy and well-known industrialist, he gets caught up in a murder plot and is deliberately accused of the killing in order to hide the true reason for the assassination. I've included it here because there is a small sub-plot involving a secret mission in Hong Kong that backfired and was the previous occasion when the two main protagonists met up on opposite sides of the mission.

Anyway, that main scene takes place on an abandoned ship in the middle of Victoria Harbour. Judging from things I would expect to see, I think the scene was shot using green screen with real footage of Hong Kong island in the background. The film definitely had some on-location camera work done, as you'll see in the following couple of posts but this key shot, perhaps with the exception of the close-ups (top two images), seem to be CGI.

If the close-ups were shot on-location (I honestly can't tell either way), then the angle on the buildings in the background suggest they were shot at the TST waterfront - close to the old KCR clocktower.

Seventh Moon - Amy Smart (2008) - Shek Lo, Fanling

The deserted house where all the weird villagers have congregated whilst they make their human sacrificial offerings to the demons is actually quite a famous abandoned house in Fanling. If you have ever visited the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail in Fanling then, although not part of he trail, it is one of the first places you pass. The place has had a big question mark over it for many years and I haven't ben that way for many years, so I don't even know if it is still around. It would be a shame if it was demolished, but this is Hong Kong.

I'll have to leave it there for this film because much of it is filmed at night with shaky camera effect (remember it is the director of The Blair Witch Project that made this film) so many places may remain unidentifiable for a long time to come.

Seventh Moon - Amy Smart (2008) - Lei Uk, Ta Kwu Ling

Although they are exploring Kowloon City, it turns out that the film makers want us believe that they are actually having fun way out in rural China somewhere - no doubt this is why the Kowloon scenes are filmed in close up. Anyway, all of a sudden they are met by their driver, played by Dennis Chan, in a small village up close to the real border with China. It's called Lei Uk and is reached via the Ping Che Road in Ta Kwu Ling (the closest main town is Fanling/Sheung Shui). So this is where they are picked up and where their journey is about to take a turn for the worse.

Seventh Moon - Amy Smart (2008) - Kowloon City Wet Market, Kowloon

After wandering around the outdoor shops the pair also head into the nearby wet market to have a wander around.

Seventh Moon - Amy Smart (2008) - Hau Wong Road, Kowloon City

More scenes around Kowloon City as the pair move to the northern part of Hau Wong Road. The "Just Meat" shop closed soon after this film was shot. It was located at 45B Hau Wong Road opposite the wet market.

Seventh Moon - Amy Smart (2008) - Nga Tsin Long Road, Kowloon City

Next up, Seventh Moon, directed by Eduardo Sanchez (the guy responsible for The Blair Witch Project) this film was shot in Hong Kong, but to be honest seeing as most of it was shot at night it really could have been shot anywhere. Other than the odd bit of rural new Territories structures there is nothing here that justifies coming all the way over to Hong Kong to shoot. It has its moments but for me the old shaky camera technique just annoyed me rather than add anything to the tension.

The story revolves around a newly married couple who are in "China" for their honeymoon and are met by a driver (played by Dennis Chan - not his finest hour) who is going to take them to see the husband's family somewhere in rural China. However, it is all a ruse and the driver is in fact taking them to be sacrificed to some bald-headed demons (plenty of those in HK, I'm one of them!) on behalf of his tormented village.

Anyway, the action starts off with the couple enjoying themselves at a local festival. This opening shot is actually in Kowloon City, along Nga Tsin Long Road. The shophouse in the background of the second image stands (or maybe stood...I haven't been down here for a while to check if it still exists) at  #24.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Former Shek Lei Resettlement Estate, Kwai Chung

Going over some of the old films I've covered, as I often do when pickings start to get slim, and I found this scene from Die Jungen Tiger von Hong Kong that involves some hastily tying up of loose ends in the middle of the film. The scene involves one of the gang's members being killed on a rather large set of steps.

Initially I thought these steps might be the ones in Aberdeen that led up to the Shek Pai Wan estate, but on closer inspection they weren't similar. Anyway, it turns out that these steps were in fact directly opposite Wader Studios and led up to the old Shek Lei Resettlement Estate.

The estate no longer exists and has been replaced by the newer Shek Lei Estate, but the steps are still there and instead now lead up to an open bit of ground that is currently a sports pitch. In the images below you can see that at the time of filming there were buildings there. It wouldn't surprise me if this sequence was filmed at the same time as these other scenes.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

The screen shot below is taken from one of the better quality episodes (episode 9 - The Turncoat) but in fact was used as an establishing shot for multiple episodes (I counted at least ten episodes but it could be more seeing as episode 14 is still missing). It is a shot of the rather colourful part of Nathan Road in Mongkok where the King Wah restaurant/Paramount Nightclub used to stand (right side of image). For a nice colourful comparison, Gwulo.com has a good image here. The current building there is the King Wah Centre that keeps the name of the previous building.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Square Street, Sheung Wan

The end of the film sees them catching a cab and it stops outside Ruby's apartment. It turns out she lives on Square Street and the cab stops right outside Rich View Terrace (with the striped awning on the right).

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Sense 99, Wellington Street

Just a couple of places to go for this film now and this one is another real venue and one that, this time, I can actually say I have been to. Sense 99 on Wellington Street was a live music venue/bar housed in one of the very skinny Chinese tenements that proliferate around many parts of Hong Kong. This is where Josh gets caught in a bit of a situation by one of his girlfriend's mates. Whoops!

Sadly, this rather nice (but noisy!) location closed down last year after the greedy landlord decided to up the rent by some ridiculous, but par for the course in HK, amount and the place had to move. I believe its new location is just up the road on Peel Street. Of course, what with Coronavirus doing the rounds, it may have closed down again already.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Cross Harbour Tunnel Entrance, Kowloon

I guess this is the way that the film maker wants us to know that the action is moving back across the harbour because we get this rather excellent view of the tunnel entrance. This was obviously shot from the pedestrian footbridge that joins Hung Hom Station with East TST.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Another one of the general shots around Kowloon to show of the film's rather nice cinematography. These sort of shots in this film are the reason why it is, so far, the film with the most number of location posts on the blog. You can just make out the Kimberley Hotel on the right, its the building with the angled windows.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui

There are a fair number of nice shots interspersed in the dialogue and as the two are walking back from Hankow Road, just before they head over to Hong Kong Island, we get this brief glimpse of the Cameron centre that stands on the corner of Cameron Road and Chatham Road South.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Portland Street, Mongkok

Back, very quickly, to Portland Street as the two are walking down Hankow Road they look up (or at least the camera does) and they are walking under a sign that is in fact several miles back to the north. This sauna place is actually in the Wai Wah Commercial Building at 109 Portland Street. In fact, in the background you can see the illuminated half globe that sits on top of the Langham Office Tower in Mongkok.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

A quick leap from Market Street and the pair are already back in Tsim Sha Tsui walking down Hankow Road. Their Kowloon side walk is beginning to look almost as epic as their HK side one.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Market Street, Yau Ma Tei

Market Street is the small street that runs along the southern wall of the Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple and public square. A long time ago, most likely when Temple Street carried on uninterrupted past the front of the temple, Market Street also continued on through to join Nathan Road. These days the section between Temple Street and Nathan Road is now pedestrianised and that is the next location for our intrepid explorers (to get here they went from Woosung Street to Ashley Road and then all the way back up here again).

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Ashley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

After their spicy crab they walk away and pop out at the top of Ashley Road. Not a very often featured little side road in Hong Kong packed full of restaurants and bars, but I guess there is always a first time for everything. Actually, I had a kebab here not so long ago and I don't think there has been much change since 2015.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Woosung Street, Yau Ma Tei

They decide to go and grab something to eat and Josh recommends a restaurant he likes. It turns out it is one of the spicy crab joints around the Temple Street night market. The one they go to though is actually on the next street over on Woosung Street at the junction with Nanking Street. The address is 103 Woosung Street.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei

After their brief walk down the Avenue of Stars, the pair head over to Temple Street where Ruby finds some knock offs of her toy designs being sold.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - The Avenue of Stars, Tsim Sha Tsui

I guess the filming along here took place not long before the place closed down for three years for a revamp. All the tacky stuff has gone to make way for marginally less tacky stuff and poor Bruce is now, along with Anita Mui, relegated to being an ornament in the Starbucks outdoor eating area.