Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - North Point Government Office, Java Road

Despite the ground floor establishing shots being filmed at the Guangdong Investment Tower in Sheung Wan, the rooftop scenes throughout the movie - where Chan goes to meet his boss (Anthony Wong) - were filmed on the other end of Hong Kong Island in North Point.

The North Point Government Office on Java Road is the location where it all goes down and we are treated to some quite impressive views across the eastern part of Victoria Harbour. Honestly, I think the film makers were extremely lucky with the weather to get those clear views, or more likely this was filmed sometime between May and July when the Hong Kong weather is at its clearest.

Look carefully in the background of the last image and you can see the IFC2 tower still under construction in the distance. This was probably also around the time that Lara Croft Tomb Raider was being filmed in the territory.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Guangdong Investment Tower, Sheung Wan

One of the more frequently recurring street level locations from this film is the building where Superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong) has his clandestine meet ups with his undercover agent Chan (Tony Leung). In fact the rooftop is another location which I will post about later, but the ground floor is where all the action happens and was shot in and in front of the Guandong Investment Tower at 148 Connaught Road Central.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Cheong Hang Road, Hung Hom

Chan Wing-yan (played by Tony Leung) is keen to salute the passing funeral procession/motorcade of his former boss in the police force, and the establishing shot for the start of the scene was filmed on Cheong Hang Road in Hung Hom where there are several funeral parlours (at least four all along the same side of the street).

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Audio Space, Ap Liu Street

A real audio business that was used for the scene when the two main characters first meet, without knowing who the other one is. It was, and still is, located at 151 Ap Liu Street in Sham Shui Po. The establishing shot was filmed on Ap Liu Street in front of the shop at a time when there were a significant amount of signs hanging overhead. These have all pretty much disappeared courtesy of a Government crackdown on illegal and dangerous structures a few years back. But the shop space hasn't been moved. In fact the company appears to be quite proud of its fame and has some images on its own website.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village (former barracks), Shau Kei Wan

When it's not being used as a quarantine camp for the various outbreaks of contagions that seem to have hit Hong Kong over the years the Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Camp is a rather well maintained peek back in time at a former army barracks used by the British Garrison. It is chock full of old colonial style barrack buildings that were common in all of the army bases in Hong Kong (Victoria Barracks, now HK Park still has a few though most have been demolished, ditto for the former Whitfield Barracks that is now Kowloon Park).

Anyway, I was lucky enough to go and visit a few years back with David Bellis from Gwulo (you can read about it here) and our impromptu guide, Mr Chan, snuck us in the side entrance into the park. Sadly, Infernal Affairs filming locations weren't on my agenda that day (I was more interested in this place instead) otherwise I would have tried to get some movie-matching images of my own. For the record, this is the same place used for the barrack scenes in Project A Part 2.

Anyway, in the film it stands in for the Police Training School where the younger versions of our two protagonists, played by Edison Chen and Shawn Yue, undergo their cadet training. 

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Ten Thousand Buddha Temple, Shatin

As I draw nearer to the end of my long list of foreign movie productions that were filmed in or feature scenes in Hong Kong (I still have a wish list of about 30 titles, but getting hold of them is getting more and more difficult) I have decided to turn my attention to some of the better known productions from the local HK film industry. Anyway, what better title to kick off with than one of the most famous from the last twenty years or so that spawned a couple of sequels as well as a Hollywood adaptation by Martin Scorsese.

Infernal Affairs marks the journey of two main characters, one a cop working undercover as a gangster (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and the other as a gangster who has infiltrated the police force (Andy Lau). The story follows them both as each tries to discover the identity of the other on behalf of their respective bosses. Honestly, if you haven't seen it by now you are really missing out on one of Hong Kong's best ever films.

The story starts with the gang leader (Eric Tsang) toasting his new foot soldiers as they prepare to enrol as police cadets with Andy Lau's younger self played by (none other than "Mr Dodgy Laptop Photos" himself) Edison Chen. The location will be familiar to most people because it is the famous and popular tourist location, the Ten Thousand Buddha Temple.

Three Businessmen - Miguel Sandoval (1998) - Percival Street, Causeway Bay

The final snippet from this movie is the pair riding on the top deck of a tram as it turns from Hennessy Road into Percival Street. The pedestrian bridge that straddles the junction can be seen in the background as the tram makes its turn south. The pair get off the tram here and find themselves in...Tokyo, where Frank (Alex Cox) says they must have wandered into Liverpool's "Japanese Garden". Honestly, if this isn't making sense then you should just watch the movie.

Three Businessmen - Miguel Sandoval (1998) - O'Brien Road Pedestrian Bridge, Wanchai

After disembarking the ferry, the next shot of the (currently two) businessmen appears to be the pedestrian walkway that connects Wanchai MTR station with Immigration Tower on the north side of Gloucester Road. The captures below show the pair walking south towards the MTR at, what appears to be, the section between Jaffe Road and Lockhart Road.

Three Businessmen - Miguel Sandoval (1998) - Star Ferry to Wanchai Ferry Pier

Well, I have managed to establish a rudimentary ability to continue with a few location posts, despite being under lockdown for 4 of the 6 weeks I have already spent in the UK. I have also managed to get hold of a copy of Three Businessmen, a film directed by Alex Cox who people may know from films such as Sid and Nancy and Repo Man, but who is also familiar to a lot of British movie fans from his long running presentation of Moviedrome.

Anyway, the film starts off with one businessman, played by Miguel Sandoval, arriving in Liverpool and checking into a very weird hotel. He goes down for dinner and meets up wit the hotel's only other guest, played by Alex Cox, and after realising there is no one in the hotel (all the staff have disappeared) they head out to try and get some dinner of their own.

What follows is a rather surreal trip around the world masquerading as streets in Liverpool as the pair wander around chatting about life and going into all manner of establishments and using all types of transport as they search out some food. It's quite entertaining and appears on this blog because of a few short moments when the pair decide to catch a ferry back across the "Mersey" to get back to the hotel.

A quick edit later and the pair have shifted from (what I believe to be) Rotterdam to what appears to be the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui. They ride to ferry over to Hong Kong Island to the old (and now demolished) Wanchai ferry pier.

The Black Dragon's Revenge - Ronnie Van Clief (1975) - Villa Alfavista, Tsing Lung Tau

I think this will be the last post from me here for a while as, due to various circumstances, I have to head back to the UK. Sadly for me, the UK has been put on a high risk list for HK returnees which mean my stay will be much longer than originally intended. Anyway, I'll still be online, just not able to produce anything for this blog for the time being.

Anyway, back to Tsing Lung Tau and this time we are next door to Dragon Villa at an apartment complex called Villa Alfavista. For some reason, for the finale, the film crew decided to film the actors walking through the grounds here rather than the actual location next door (even though they filmed much of the finale next door anyway).

You can also see Villa Alfavista in the background behind Ronnie's head in the next image.