My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Austin Road West, Kowloon

The film's final scenes, as Aryoung heads out to stop her Korean gangster love interest from leaving, was shot at the bend on Austin Road West. It's the same spot where SPL filmed a year or so previously, right in front of where the ICC building stands. Obviously the area has changed massively since this was filmed though with the addition of the waterfront art park, M+ museum etc.

My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Freder Centre, Ma Tau Kok

Aryoung catches up with the gang boss on the roof of the Freder Centre at the top end of Ma Tau Kok. We've seen it before, quite some time ago, as a Police Station on the Strangers miniseries. The wasteland in the background is the cleared out former Kai Tak Airport site. Suffice to say that wastleand is now full of malls, new residential developments and Hong Kong's brand new (as of April 2025) Kai Tak Sports Park.

My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Yau Kung Tong, Yuen Long

Aryoung heads to the wedding of a rival gang member in order to confront and kill their boss. This was all filmed at the oft-used Yau Kung Tong in Ha Tsuen in east Yuen Long District. It's one of the Tang Clan's ancestral halls and goes by the full name of 廈村鄧氏宗祠 (ha tsuen dang si jung chi - which basically translates as Ha Village Tang Clan Ancestral Hall - you can see why I usually shorten it to Yau Kung Tong, which I believe is an acceptable alternative name).

Quite a few films have been shot here over the years.

My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Lei Yue Mun

Aryoung finds out about her father's attemtpted assassination and returns to Hong Kong to be with him. He is convalescing in a beachside hut in Lei Yue Mun. The concrete structure that Shu Qi is standing on was part of the infrastructure that was used when the area was being quarried (quarrying stopped here circa 1970). It's all abandoned now and just left to rot.

My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Times Square

Much of the middle of the film solely focuses on South Korea. But back in Hong Kong, we see a brief scene as the rival triad boss (played by Ken Lo - Jackie Chan's former long suffering real-life bodyguard) orders his assassins to go to South Korea to track down Aryoung and kill her.

The view from the window was taken from the north facing side of Times Square. It's not the first time a South Korean co-production has used an office in this building for a scene (see Beyond Hypothermia).

My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Shek Kip Mei Street

A young woman, supposedly Aryoung (although we don't know it's her because her face is obscured) goes into a local barber shop and executes the triad boss that had previously humiliated her at the meeting. This was filmed at a real life establishment called "彩虹南昌髮型屋" and was located on the ground floor of Block 16 of the Shek Kip Mei estate on Shek Kip Mei Street. You can just make out the sign for the adjoining former Shek Kip Mei Post Office on the right.

This block and its adjacent ones (Blocks 15, 17 and 18) were demolished soon after the film was shot and by the time I moved to the area in 2012 the site was just sitting empty. However it now has two gigantic replacement high rises standing there - Mei Pak House and Mei Hei House. I made a comparison photo a few years ago that can be seen on Gwulo here (Block 16 on the right handside of the original image is where the hairdressers was located).

My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Grandview Terrace, Siu Lam

The triad boss, played by Ti Lung, has a rather palatial mansion up in the hills in the New Territories. The building they used is part of the rather opulant Grandview Terrace - a luxury estate with large spacious mansions within. The address of the property seen on film is 1003 Kwun Fung Street. I have no idea who lives in this property, but let's just say you would need to be pretty rich to live up here, even by Hong Kong standards. The establishing shot begins with a view from the house's rather expansive terrace, looking down onto the sea between here and Lantau Island in the distance. The structure in the first image is the Hong Kong Observatory Terminal Doppler Weather Radar Station.

My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Victoria Harbour

I haven't had a foreign production for a while given the bounty that is available on the Shaw/Celestial Youtube channel, so here is My Wife is a Gangster 3 (Korean: 조폭 마누라 3). This is a South Korea/Hong Kong co-production starring Shu Qi as the rebellious daughter of a Hong Kong triad boss (played by Ti Lung). During a "gong-sau" (a triad meeting between rival groups) she is pressurised into performing a sword routine for the rival boss and her performance is marred by the rival gang members throwing broken glass for her to stand on. She seemingly takes revenge on the boss and has to leave Hong Kong for South Korea to escape further recrimination. It's here where she is looked after by her father's Korean gang associates and the film is basically a comedy based on the apparent lack of communication between both sides as assassins head to South Korea to try and kill her.

The film opens with some nice night time shots around the harbour.

 

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Edifício do Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais, Macau

After Yan has dropped off Ma for his court date, the next shot shows him walking up the steps of the Edifício do Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais (aka Leal Senado building) on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro. And with this post I think we can consider Isabella more or less done.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Derby Road, Kowloon Tsai

Another of the Hong Kong-shot scenes from this film occurs at the end as Yan gives Ma a lift to his court date on the back of her scooter. The scene starts on Derby Road with "Scholar's Lodge" on the right, and the old, art-deco wall of #4 Derby Road on the left. After a edit, the scooter then appears not too far away on Chester Road in front of #8 (on the east side of the square) and as they round the crner we know see the other side of #4 Derby Road with scaffolding over it. Given that #4 has been empty for many years and currently has no windows (this is Stage 1 of the tried-and-tested developers' method of demolition - remove all the windows so that Mother Nature renders the building unstable and less likely to attract the attention of the local Antiquities and Monuments Office), it looks like the film maker may have inadvertantly filmed the moment that the windows were all being removed.

Derby Road

Chester Road

Chester Road again with #4 Derby Road back left

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Travessa do Padre Narciso, Macau

Here's a location that I inadvertantly missed when initially writing about Travessa do Padre Narciso. This is the apartment block where Ma supposedly lives. I can't vouch for the interior but some later scenes as Yan's school friend approaches Ma outside the front door and when he can be seen smoking on the balcony were filmed on a little side alleyway off Travessa do Padre Narciso. I have no idea if the small street or building has a name but it's been spruced up significantly since Isabella was filmed.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Pátio do Espinho, Macau

Whilst being chased from the Avenida da Praia in Taipa by some gangsters, the pair run up some steps nearby. In fact, the real location in the film is back on the Macau peninsula on Rua Dom Belchior Caneiro. If you look closely you can see the street sign says "Pátio do Espinho" and that is the name of the small terrace that the pair try to escape through. The giveaway is the presence of the St Paul's church facade in the background of the second image.

Actually, we see this location twice in the film because it was also featured in one of the flashbacks when a young Yan and her mum witness Ma, as a younger corrupt cop, beating up someone on the street corner (see lower images).

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Avenida da Praia, Taipa

The pair hang out next to the famous "Taipa Houses Museum" when they are sudddenly chased by some local gangsters who want to speak with Ma.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Escola do Santíssimo Rosário, Macau

This is the school building where Yan sits down with the school friend who has a big crush on her and makes up some more stories about running away with her criminal boyfriend. The school is fronted by the Comissao Da Juventude Da Associacao Ho Song-I-Tong (aka Ho Clan Association building) along Rua De S. Paulo, right next door to Travessa da Paixão.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Rua de São Lourenço, Macau

The street corner where Ma is stopped by his boss (Anthony Wong) waiting in a car is where Rua de S. Lourenço joins with Travessa do Padre Narciso. The artdeco styled building they are standing next to is the Instituto Salesiano, a local middle school.