RINGO LAM: The incendiary

Throughout his filmography, Ringo Lam has probed the underworld of Hong Kong and its inherent violence, defied the authorities and repeatedly encountered the horrors of censorship. He is the author of eminently political thrillers such as City on Fire , Full Alert , School on Fire as well as Burning Paradise , one of the greatest saber films of the 90s. Too often in the shadow of his colleagues John Woo and Tsui Hark, he also had an American experience, more or less happy, alongside actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.
A radical and enraged filmmaker, Ringo Lam loves his city so much that he doesn't hesitate to set it on fire regularly, in his films, to purify it of the corruption that gnaws at it. The book offers you an immersion without return in the tormented Hong Kong of the end of the 20th century.

RINGO LAM: THE INCENDIARY by Sébastien Lecocq (2022)
240 pages. Black and white.

SUMMARY

Chapter 1: Made in Hong Kong
Chapter 2: King of Comedy
Chapter 3: Men in Struggle
Chapter 4: The Price of Glory
Chapter 5: Belgian Connection
Chapter 6: Brothers in Arms
Chapter 7: A thriller for history
Chapter 8: Out of Categories
Chapter 9: The Middle Empire

Each chapter ends with an interview to open a discussion around the filmmaker. Among the speakers you will be able to find David Martinez (ex-editor-in-chief of the magazine HK: Far East Cinema and former DVD manager for HK Video), Arnaud Lanuque (Hong Kong cinema specialist and author of Police vs crime syndicates ) or Julien Sévéon (author of numerous books on Asian cinema including Mad Cinema in Japan Or Category III: Sex, Blood and Politics in Hong Kong ).

And as a bonus, the river interview of Ringo Lam by David Martinez published in number 14 of the cult magazine HK: Far East Cinema devoted to the director.