Hong Kong 1941 Blu-ray presents the defining masterpiece of British-Chinese filmmaker Po-Chih Leong, an intimate and devastating wartime drama set during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in World War II. Produced by Sammo Hung, the film follows three ordinary Hongkongers as friendship, loyalty, and hope are slowly crushed under the weight of fear, violence, and survival during one of the darkest chapters in the city’s history.
 
Told largely through the perspective of Ha Yuk-Nam, portrayed by Cecilia Yip, the story centres on a love triangle between her childhood friends Yip Kim-Fei, played by Chow Yun-Fat in his breakout role, and Wong Hak-Keung, portrayed by Alex Man. As occupation tightens its grip, personal relationships collide with moral compromise and quiet acts of resistance, grounding the historical devastation in deeply human emotion. Leong’s restrained direction and Brian Lai’s award-winning cinematography lend the film its haunting power, capturing both the brutality and the suffocating stillness of life under Imperial rule.
 
Nominated for eight awards at the 1985 Hong Kong Film Awards and winning Best Cinematography, Hong Kong 1941 is widely regarded as one of the most important films in Hong Kong cinema. This Masters of Cinema Blu-ray marks the film’s first release on Blu-ray outside of Asia, presented from a brand new 4K restoration and accompanied by an extensive slate of newly produced and archival supplements that explore its cultural and historical impact.
 
directed by: Po-Chih Leong
starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Cecilia Yip, Alex Man
1984 / 100 min / 1.66:1 / Cantonese mono