The Bare Footed Kid

I wonder why so many people mention only Chow Yun-fat among the actors in [A Better Tomorrow] in talking about the film. I love him, too, but the focus of ABT is Sung Tse-ho played wonderfully by Ti Lung. ABT was my first Ti Lung experience, and since then I wish I had a chance to see the martial art films of 70's in which he had starred. I haven't had such a luck yet, but I found [Barefooted Kid] a good treat. Though Lung plays a supporting role, you can fully taste of his noble warrior appeal in this. Great. And Maggie Cheung is even greater. She portrays a warm-hearted (treats the barefooted kid very kindly), beautiful (yes, Maggie is beautiful), brave (neither surrenders to the greedy local strong man, nor fears loving Lung's character being a widow in those old days), and wise (disperses a bunch of beggars troubling a bride, by scattering the coins) character brilliantly.

Lung and Maggie work beautifully together in the most impressive scenes -- meeting up on a full moon night, collecting the stone dust in rain, walking on a street in the rainy evening. Above all, it's a love story (for me, at least). Aaron Kwok and Wu Chien-lien form a charming couple also. And it is nice surprise to see Kenneth Tsang (who played Danny Lee's sidekick cop in [The Killer] and the taxi company owner in ABT) play a pure villain. Plus, it has good action sequences -- nothing new, but neat, enjoyable movie.