Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Nai Chung, Ma On Shan

The community work the church is doing looks like it is at a refugee camp over near Nai Chung. Now, I know there used to be a Vietnamese Refugee Camp not far away at Whitehead Point, but I'm not aware of any at this particular strip of land (it's been used for filming a couple of times before here and here) so I can only assume this was built for the purpose of this film or borrowed from another.

The land at the moment is empty so expect a massive residential development to go up there at some point as the villagers illegally sell their land to developers for mega bucks (welcome to HK!).

Little known fact: despite me listing this place as part of Ma On Shan, it's actually administratively part of Tai Po District despite being physically closer to Sai Kung. In fact, the whole of northern Sai Kung falls under the remit of Tai Po District - hence why there is a Sai Kung Rural Committee building in the centre of Tai Po!).

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Sai Kung Public Pier, Sai Kung

A quick return to Sai Kung town for the next scene involving the boys and church heading off to do some community work. They are loading up supplies on the public pier in Sai Kung (note: there are two public piers now, but the newer shorter one was only built a few years ago and wasn't around in 1995).

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Penha Church, Macau

Penha Church pops up a couple of times in the film because it is standing in as a boarding school. The first time we see it is when we are introduced to Christian Clavier's priest character who runs the school and looks after the kids. I've never been inside the church or associated buildings so can't comment on whether or not this was filmed completely on location, however, I'm including the first few images (shot on the courtyard in front of the church) to document the reclamation that was going on at the time to create the two bits of inland water Lago Sai Van and Lago Nam Van. You can see them beginning to take shape.

 And a quick look through the main doors.

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Sai Kung Waterfront, Sai Kung

So, despite our poor, bloodied target being attacked on the Star (or should I say "Starr") Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui, then somehow hot-footed it up to Tai Kok Tsui whilst his pursuers follow him from another pier down in Hung Hom, he manages to find a public payphone in Sai Kung to call his buddy (Depardieu) and ask him to come to HK to look after his son. Trust me when I say this is not the most ridiculous bit of geographical artistic license seen in this film.

Anyway, he makes it to the phone booth and puts in his call just before a big truck arrives and runs him over. Look in the background to see the large dolos structure/exhibit that inhabits the waterfront at the end of Man Nin Street (you can see it on Streetview here).

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Hung Hom Ferry Pier, Hung Hom

Despite the fact that our victim departs the ferry at Tai Kok Tsui, the hoodlums chase after him but are filmed outside another ferry pier - this time in Hung Hom. I have no idea why they couldn't have filmed it all in one place. Anyway, in the background of this shot we can quite clearly make out the two-tier ferry pier at Hung Hom with a Star Ferry berthed behind it. Sadly, this particular route is no longer in operation which is a big shame considering how much more vibrant this area has become.

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Tai Kok Tsui Bus Terminus, Tai Kok Tsui

Following the pier shootout, the man escapes onto the street . However, this area isn't anywhere near Tsim Sha Tsui, it's actually the old bus terminus in front of the ferry pier in Tai Kok Tsui. The area is virtually unrecognisable today courtesy of all the development around, but these older buildings are still around and were key in helping me identify the area. The buildings at the back still sit on Pok Man Street but the terminus itself has been built on and now holds the Tai Kok Tsui HSBC Centre.

The curved building on the right of the lower image is called Peony House. The block behind the car in the same image is called Ocean Court and is on the corner of Pok Man Street and Kok Cheung Street. I have to say the area is looking a little less decrepit these days and the buildings have all undergone external decoration. There are a fair few decent bars down here now as well.

People who are familiar with this area will know the ferry pier has long gone and reclamation has extended the shoreline a bit (in fact you can see some of that reclamation here) so that large developments including the Olympic MTR station, Island Harbourview and Hoi Fai Road Garden could be constructed.

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Star Ferry, Tsim Sha Tsui

The action starts on the Star Ferry over to Tsim Sha Tsui as Depardieu's friend is ambushed by a bunch of Chinese gangsters. We get a few shots taken on board one of the ferries before everyone moves into the pier building.

However...look closely at the so-called "pier building" and you'll notice something a bit odd about it. I think it was actually a specially prepared boat, the structure is made of metal and the windows angle inwards. I suspect this may have been one of the old vehicular ferries kitted out to look like the pier building. Plus, there is a glaring error in the last image. Can you spot it?

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Hau Wong Road, Kowloon City

The actual opening shot of the film is a quick glimpse of an aeroplane flying over Kowloon City to land at Kai Tak. This particular shot was taken from Hau Wong Road - identified by the vertical signboard for the now defunct Sum Kam Kee (新金記) restaurant which was at #21-23.

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

My final offer before I disappear for 3 weeks as part of my summer break. This time it is a film made the same year I first visited Hong Kong - 1995. It stars everyone's favourite Russian, Gerard Depardieu, as a reluctant guardian of his friend's son who gets caught up in some money troubles with Chinese Triads. The first half of the film utilises locations in both Hong Kong and Macau, but essentially treats them all as HK, before moving back to France (it's a French film). It even has Darren Shahlavi in one of his earlier HK roles as a long-haired goateed gangster.

Anyway, to open proceedings, here is a quick shot of the harbour looking over towards Central. 

Les Fruits de la Passion - Klaus Kinski (1981) - Tin Hau Temple, Repulse Bay

The final location from this film (other than an old mansion which may take a long time to locate) is the Tin Hau Temple down in Repulse Bay. It's cropped up quite a few times on this blog previously.