Wong, Chun-chun Barbara (黃真真)

Critical Biography    Filmography    Reviews    Bibliography

Wong, Chun-chun Barbara – Critical Biography  Top

Wong, Chun-chun Barbara

Barbara Wong studied filmmaking at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her feature film debut – the aptly-titled Women’s Private Parts (2000) – was a low-budget documentary shot on digital video in which Wong interviewed a range of Hong Kong women from all walks of life about their attitudes towards sex. There was a somewhat sensationalistic aspect to Wong’s documentary, but it won her a fair degree of fame and notoriety for dealing so frankly and provocatively with the still somewhat taboo subject of female sexuality within the context of a conservative and patriarchal Hong Kong society.

Wong began a long-standing collaboration with industry veteran Lawrence Cheng (The Yuppie Fantasia, 1989) on her second feature, Truth or Dare: 6^th Floor Rear Flat (2003). Working from a story by Cheng (who also served as the film’s producer), Wong crafted an entertaining comedy about an assorted group of youthful residents who enter into a wager with their landlady whereby they must realize their dreams in life within a year in order to win. The film was a breakout success, and Wong would continue to collaborate with Cheng on many of her subsequent works.

In the wake of Truth or Dare’s box-office success, Wong made a host of comedies in a commercial vein. Protégé de la Rose Noire (2004), a jokey pastiche starring pop duo Twins that pays homage to the camp action heroines of 1960s Hong Kong cinema, was co-directed by Wong and the film’s action choreographer, Donnie Yen. Six Strong Guys (2004), a male-bonding comedy about a group of men undergoing various forms of mid-life crises, was another collaboration with writer-producer Lawrence Cheng. Cheng and Wong also teamed up for a sequel to Truth or Dare (Happy Funeral [2008], about a group of youngsters who come up with the business idea of staging happy funerals), as well as a romantic comedy about wedding planners (Perfect Wedding [2010] starring Miriam Yeung, Raymond Lam, and model Chrissie Chau).

Aside from her interest in comedy, Wong has also specialized in directing relationship films as well as melodramas. Wonder Women (2007) – made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR – was a melodrama and an empowerment narrative starring Gigi Leung as a career woman who overcomes all manner of obstacles in order to find her way in life. Break Up Club (2010), co-written again with producer and collaborator Lawrence Cheng, has the fantastic premise of a website whereby users can reconnect with their exes if they pledge in turn to break up a happy couple. Aimed mainly at the mainland Chinese market, The Allure of Tears (2011) was a tearjerker featuring a trio of love stories and starring, among others, Aarif Lee. Wong’s most recent films are The Stolen Years (2013), a romance drama in which Bai Baihe’s protagonist loses her memory in an accident and tries to reconstruct why she ended up divorced from her once-loving husband; and the Hong Kong/China co-production Girls (2014), a romance-drama featuring a group of friends played by a mixed ensemble of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese performers.

Filmography   Top

Feature Films:

Role	Title (English)	Title (Chinese)	Year
Director	Don’t Forget I Love You	不要忘記我愛你	2022
Director Writer Producer	Girls vs Gangsters (Trailer)	閨密 2	2018
Director Co-Writer Producer	The Secret (Trailer)	消失的愛人	2016
Director Writer	Girls (Trailer)	閨密	2014
Director Writer	The Stolen Years (Trailer)	被偷走的那五年	2013
Director Writer	The Allure of Tears (Trailer)	傾城之淚	2011
Director Story	Perfect Wedding (Trailer)	抱抱俏佳人	2010
Director Writer Producer	Break Up Club (Trailer)	分手說愛你	2010
Director Writer	Happy Funeral (Trailer)	六樓后座2家屬謝禮	2008
Director Writer	Wonder Women (Trailer)	女人本色	2007
Director Story	6 Strong Guys	六壯士	2004
Director	Protege de la Rose Noire (Trailer)	見習黑玫瑰	2004
Director	Women’s Private Parts 2	女人那話兒：男人這東西	2004
Director Writer	Truth or Dare : 6th Floor Rear Flat (Trailer)	六樓后座	2003
Director	Women’s Private Parts (Trailer)	女人那話兒	2001

Reviews   Top

Girls vs Gangsters (2018):

SCMP: Girls vs Gangsters film review: Barbara Wong channels The Hangover in insufferable comedy sequel

Asian Movie Pulse: Film Review: Girls vs. Gangsters (2018) by Barbara Wong

Los Angelas Tims: Comedy ‘Girls vs Gangsters’ may leave you rooting for the bad guys

Girls (2014) Reviews:

Global Times:
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/859711.shtml
HK Magazine:
http://hk-magazine.com/movie-review/girls
SCMP:
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1567446/film-review-barbara-wongs-girls-shows-its-female-protagonists-bad
Inmedia (In Chinese):
http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1025172

The Stolen Years (2013) Reviews:

Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/stolen-years-bei-tou-zou-628503
Love HK Film:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/stolen_years.html
SCMP:
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1304945/film-review-stolen-years

The Allure of Tears (2011) Reviews:

Love HK Film:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/allure_of_tears.html

Perfect Wedding (2010) Reviews:

Love HK Film:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/perfect_wedding.html
Moviexclusive:
http://www.moviexclusive.com/review/perfectwedding/perfectwedding.html

Happy Funeral (2008) Reviews:

Love HK Film:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/happy_funeral.html 

6 Strong Guys (2004) Reviews:

Love HK Film:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/six_strong_guys.htm

Protege de la Rose Noire (2004) Reviews:

Love HK Film:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/protege_de_la_rose_noire.htm

Truth or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat (2003) Reviews:

Love HK Film:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/truth_or_dare.htm
So Good Reviews:
http://www.sogoodreviews.com/reviews/truthordare6thfloorrearflat.htm

Women’s Private Parts (2001) Reviews:

Hong Kong Film Critics Society:
http://www.filmcritics.org.hk/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1%E8%A9%95%E8%AB%96/%E6%9C%83%E5%93%A1%E5%BD%B1%E8%A9%95/feature-july-bobo-nature-under-feminism-%E2%80%93-film-wong-chen-chen

Others:

HK Magazine – Interview with Barbara Wong

Hong Kong Cinemagic – INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA WONG CHUN CHUN

Bibliography   Top

1. Wong, Angela Wai-ching. “Our Bodies, Our Stories: Narrating Female Sexuality in Hong Kong.” Mainstreaming Gender in Hong Kong Society. Ed. Fanny M. Cheung and Eleanor Holroyd. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2009. 257-290.