Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan

Although they don't know it at the time, our two main protagonists cross paths on a rainy day early on in the film outside the small Kwun Yam Temple next to the steps on Tai Ping Shan Street. The same location is also seen later as they are on the run from the police detective who is trying to get hold of Matteo. The top image is the rainy day scene from earlier in the film and the lower two are the evening chase.

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Harbour Grand Hotel, Hung Hom

One of the hotels where Matteo stays is the Harbour Grand Hotel in Hung Hom. There is a brief view from the room window down to the main road, as well as later when Jiazhen goes to wait for him in the foyer. This is the hotel's third appearance on the blog (so far) with other, later, appearances in Snowden (standing in for The Mira) and The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio.

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre New Wing, Wanchai

One of Matteo's first port of calls is the office of Mr Feng (Kenneth Tsang), the rather sinister head of the company that he wants to do business with in Africa. The office, which pops up throughout the film, was in a section of the new wing of the HKCEC. There are also some scenes filmed in other parts of the centre including the one (in image 3 below) when the UN is announcing the African milk distribution contract winner.

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

This is a familiar location for anyone that has read past posts. It's one of the more popular locations for foreign films dating back all the way to the 1960s. Anyway, this is still during the opening credits as we see Jiazhen going to visit her son's grave.

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Aerial Views over Kowloon

Some more establishing shots from the opening title sequence as Matteo (Luca Barbareschi) arrives by helicopter. In the first image he is looking out of his window down onto the west side of TST with the Ocean Centre and all the other waterfront buildings in view. The second image shows the helicopter landing on top of the Peninsula rooftop landing pad. The "Canon" sign in the foreground was an old rotating advert that used to sit on top of what was then called Oterprise Square but now goes with the more humble name of 26 Nathan Road. It was also captured in a brief shot from a similar scene in Batman: The Dark Knight (second image down in the link).

Coincidentally., the film's co-star, Michael Wong, does a VIP heli trip from the same place, so I have no doubts that he may have been quite influential in getting the use of the area for filming.

The next image below shows the view looking northwest from what I believe to be 8A Hart Road. My suspicion is that someone from the film was staying in Hotel Panorama - which occupies this building - and stuck a camera out of their room window to capture this rather spectacular shot of the ICC in the distance. That's "The Masterpiece" on the left side of the image. The final image Kowloon-side below is the view looking north east up the East TST waterfront. You can just see the Coliseum (a famous canto-pop venue) underneath the red title graphics with Kowloon Peak shrouded in a cloud inversion in the distance (happens a lot in HK).

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Aerial Views over Hong Kong

The story moves to Hong Kong as Matteo - having escaped the police in Italy - moves his focus to an adulterated powdered milk scam in Hong Kong. As the opening credits role we are treated to some aerial views of Hong Kong as Matteo's helicopter makes its way across the city to the landing pad. There are some really nice shots in this sequence so I may split it over a couple of posts for each side of the harbour.

The first image below shows us looking down on Central. The low-rise cluster is the area around Hollywood Road, Peel Street, Aberdeen Street etc with the Wing On Centre and Rumsey Street Carparks on the extreme left and The Centrium top right. The second image is fairly recognisable with the Lippo Centre centre left and finally we see a view across the harbour with the new wing of the HKCEC sticking out. 

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

Our next film, Something Good, is an Italian production shot with English dialogue and filmed mainly in Hong Kong. Also known as The Mercury Conspiracy and The Mercury Factor, it stars Luca Barbareschi (who also directed) as Matteo, a sort of middleman dealing in the world of tainted food sales. The story appears to have been partly inspired by the melamine milk scandal that rocked Mainland China a few years ago (and had unforeseen affects on HK as the border areas became saturated with milk powder/baby formula tourists).

Matteo is in Hong Kong to set up a dodgy tainted milk formula business to export into Africa with some Chinese business partners led by Mr Feng (Kenneth Tsang) and his son Zhao (Carl Ng). His goings on bring him into contact with a Chinese woman, Jiazhen (Zhang Jingchu), who runs a restaurant business in memory of her son who was killed by tainted food.

The opening scenes are supposedly set in Mainland China where Jiazhen lives with her son. The establishing shots are definitely of the stock variety and I suspect that the close ups were shot in Hong Kong because the following shot, still supposedly in the Mainland, shows a part of Nam Sang Wai with the west end of Kai Kung Leng in the background.

The actual location is a now collapsed (according to a photo on Google Earth) boardwalk close to the Nam Sang Wai and Sing Kei stores - not far from the river boat crossing. 

Election - Simon Yam (2005) - Kowloon Reservoir, Shatin

Here is the last post for this film and the location for the final scenes in the movie as it reaches its denouement. Lok and his son go fishing with Big D and his wife and the partnership between the two men finally ends. The location in question is Kowloon Reservoir which, despite its name, is actually located within the boundaries of Shatin District along the Tai Po Road. Although the reservoir itself is a new one for the blog, its dam wall - over the top of which runs Golden Hill Road - has been seen a couple of times before (A Lotus Blossom for Miss Quon, A Queen's Ransom). You can see it in the last image as Lok and his son drive away.

Election - Simon Yam (2005) - Chinese YMCA Wu Kai Sha Youth Village, Ma On Shan

In a brief scene, Louis Koo goes to visit an elderly relative who is in some sort of elderly nursing home. These scenes were filmed at the YMCA Wu Kai Sha youth village in Ma On Shan.

Election - Simon Yam (2005) - Cameron Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

After they have decided to work together, both Lok and Big D stand on a rooftop in TST and look down and boast about how much money they will make by working together. The rooftop in question belongs to Majestic House - it's the building that occupies the southern corner spot at the junction of Cameron and Nathan Roads, so the road they are looking down on in the first image is Cameron Road looking east.