Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Cornell Centre, Chai Wan

Man-Yu's new studio space is located in the Cornell Centre, an industrial building in Chai Wan. It looks like we have a rare incidence where the exteriors and interiors were filmed at the same place because the view from the studio is one that matches the view that should be visible from the upper floors of the Cornell Centre.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Island Eastern Corridor, Quarry Bay

They drive together through the rain along the Island Eastern Corridor towards Man-Yu's new studio site. Harbour View Gardens can be seen on the right.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Expo Drive, Wanchai

Loy gets a call from his ex-girlfriend, Man-yu (Maggie Cheung Ho-yee), and he gets all excited. It seems that she wants to employ him to provide the aircon for her new studio, but it turns out she is also recently divorced and may have other things on her mind. They meet up in the pouring rain on Expo Drive, next to the Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Pik Uk Prison, Sai Kung

Oi Lin's boyfriend is Xu (Andy On) and has a bit of a temper, hence why he is locked away and also why they are going out - he came to her aid when she was assaulted on a bus one day. Anyway, he is incarcerated in Pik Uk prison until his release later in the film. Incidentally, Andy On and Tang Wei would be filming together again a few years later for Blackhat.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Tung Hing Building, Johnston Road

When the two families meet up to try and fix up their respective charges, they do it over a dim sum meal. The restaurant was called "Tanyoto" and was located in the lower floors of the Tung Hing Building on the corner of Johnston Road and O'Brien Road. The place was actually a hotpot restaurant but also happened to sell dim sum. These days the space is now occupied by a JP Books bookstore.

When Loy looks out the window as Oi Lin is making work calls, she is standing on the corner of the road outside exit A3 of Wanchai MTR Station.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Sau Wa Fong, Wanchai

This is where Loy lives with his mum and aunty. The beginning of this sequence shows one of the entrances on to Sau Wa Fong (it's a large terrace/podium with multiple buildings on it) from St Francis Street, but the building where Loy lives is supposed to be Sau Wa Court on the other side of the terrace. The same steps are also seen later in the film as Loy is dropped home at night by his ex-girlfriend.

Entrance to the terrace from St Francis Street

Sau Wa Court

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Environmental Resource Centre, Wanchai

Another brief shot along Queen's Road East shows what was the old Wanchai Post Office but is now the Environmental Resources Centre. This same spot along Queen's Road East (but from the other direction) was featured way back in 1955 for Soldier of Fortune.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Queen's Road East, Wanchai

Many of the locations in this film are in and around Wanchai, simply because this is where the two main characters work in their respective shops: Loy in his mum's white goods store and Oi Lin in her uncle and aunty's bathroom shop. We'll get to those respective locations later, but in the meantime there are lots of transition type shots, like this one of Queen's Road East. The portico on the left is the Hopewell Centre.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - View from Wu Chung House

Back to more recent times now and a Hong Kong that is recognisable to me because I had already been living here for around 3 years when this next one was filmed - shot in early 2009. Crossing Hennessy was written and directed by Ivy Ho and stars Jacky Cheung (as Loy) and Tang Wei (Oi Lin) as a couple thrust together by their scheming elders, determined to marry them off, despite them both carrying a significant amount of emotional baggage. Oi Lin has a boyfriend currently in prison and Loy just seems to be coasting through life since the death of his father.

The film features many (recent) scenes of Hong Kong and starts off with a rather vertiginous view over Wanchai from the top of Wu Chung House on Queen's Road East.

The lower two images were taken from the same spot but show a zoomed in view and were used a few scenes later. You can see Southorn Playground through the gaps.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Port Shelter, Sai Kung

The final scene, as the two gangs say their farewells aboard a couple of junks, was shot in the northern secton of Port Shelter. It's a bit misty but the background shows the low lying islets of Cham Tau Chau (left) and Pak Sha Chau (right) with the larger Sharp Island on the left hand side of frame. And with that, we bid farewell to this movie.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - St Paul's Church Facade, Macau

A final shot for Macau is of the St Paul's facade seen from a couple of different angles. The top image obviously taken from Monte Fort.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Casino Macau Palace, Macau

The Oriental Travel organisation is based in the casino floating in Macau's Inner Harbour - the Casino Macau Palace. I may have mentioned in an old post that the original casino structure started life as the very first Sea Palace restaurant in Hong Kong before being bought by Stanley Ho, taken over to Macau and repurposed as a casino. This was back in the early 1960s. It appears that by the time this movie was filmed in 1969, the original structure had already been replaced by this wooden version, familiar to anyone who has watched The Man with the Golden Gun and other movies from that era e.g. Flatfoot in Hongkong.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Monte Fort, Macau

Another of the establishing shots for the shift of the story to Macau is a couple of shots in and around Monte Fort. Again, you might be able to spot a couple of similar angles from, Narazumono, shot 5 years earlier.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - View from Penha Hill, Macau

The action moves to Macau as the location of Oriental Travel's HQ appears in the form of the floating casino. The first establishing shot is a view from the top of Penha Hill looking north, a view that was also captured, in greater detail, a few years earlier in Narazumono. In fact, it looks like the camera was located in exactly the same position.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei

The gangs strike back by targeting the drug dealers on the street and grab a couple of guys from the front of the Tin Hau temple in Yau Ma Tei. Regular readers may recognise the old front wall of the temple with its square window apertures that can also be seen in The World of Suzie Wong, but this wall has since been demolished (sometime in the early 70s). What is still around though is the white building in the background, which is the Kowloon Government Offices. Note also that this was when Temple Street still ran right in front of the temple (hence its name), before this section was removed and replaced by the extended public square area.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Tai Pak Restaurant, Aberdeen

The two gangs are on their way for some lunch at the Tai Pak when Oriental Traval once again attack them. So a shootout follows from the lower deck of the restaurant as the attackers zip past in a boat.