Flash Point - Donnie Yen (2007) - Empire Apartments, North Point

Here's another location that has cropped up in another film. This time it's the rooftop apartment of Louis Koo's character that gets bombed by the bad guys in their attempt to get rid of him as a key witness. If you have followed this blog for anytime then you may recall the same location was used for Mathilde's flat in Je l'aimais a couple of years later. Well at least it's the same rooftop because I think there might be two (illegal) structures on the roof that have been turned into apartment spaces. The one in Je l'aimais was at the front (facing King's Road) side of the roof and Louis' is the larger higher one. The strange concrete ribbing structure in the lower right of the second image is the roof of the State (former Empire) Theatre.

Je l'aimais - Daniel Auteuil (2009) - Empire Apartments, North Point

Mathilde's Hong Kong flat is supposedly on the roof top of a building and there is one scene when the two leave the apartment and have to cross the roof in order to get down. These scenes were filmed on top of the Empire Apartment building on the corner of Hei Wo Street in North Point. This is in fact the residential building next to the State Theatre. The building was constructed in 1957 - just two years prior to the construction of the neighbouring Empire Theatre, which was the State Theatre's original name. It looks as though the film crew did use a real apartment that has been constructed on the buildings roof top. Roof top squatting has been a common occurrence in Hong Kong for many decades and lots of old buildings still have illegally built additions at the top - often cemented in to make them look like part of the original building. I reckon this is one of those that has never been flagged by the Govt - out of sight out of mind.