UK Premiere: The System 行規

A gritty crime drama focusing on the intense, cat-and-mouse relationship between Inspector Chan and a drug informant, exploring corruption and the 'rules of the game' in 1970s Hong Kong. Starring the Cantonese actor and martial artist Sek Kin (Enter the Dragon) as a mob consigliere and Pai Ying (Lady Kung Fu, A Touch of Zen) as a police detective, Peter Yung's The System is about an incorruptible cop who uses an informant to expose a murderous payoff scheme between triad bosses and top officials in the colonial police force. Yung got his start by photographing the underground drug scene in Hong Kong - and so he brings an authenticity to this gripping feature debut. Collaborating with Yung were the young cinematographer Moon-Tong Lau who captures a lost Hong Kong of the 1970s by filming in seamy locations like the torn-down New World Hotel on the Tsim Sha Tsui harbourside and the neon-lit streets of Victoria; and assistant director Stanley Kwan, who would become a noted filmmaker in his own right with Center Stage, starring Maggie Cheung. The restoration was made using the original 35mm picture and sound negatives preserved at the Hong Kong Film Archive, Leisure and Cultural Services Department. The digital restoration was undertaken at L'Immagine Ritrovata, with colour correction completed at One Cool Production. The System is one of the films under M+ Restored, an initiative supported by CHANEL. With an introduction by Professor Andy Willis from the University of Salford, whose research area includes Hong Kong cinema.