Hong Kong filmmaker Wai Ka-fai made his name when he co-founded Milkyway Image with Johnnie To Kei-fung and went about producing, writing, directing or co-directing innovative genre takes like The Odd One Dies, which made the company internationally famous in the late 1990s.
For quite some time, Wai kept himself in the background, leaving the ebullient To as the face of the company. But his creative input was never in doubt.
Here we look at Waiโs first three films as director.
1. Peace Hotel (1995)
Made before he joined forces with To, Waiโs debut feature was an atmospheric action film produced by John Woo Yu-sum.
The unabashed โEastern Westernโ was Chow Yun-fatโs last Hong Kong film before he moved to Hollywood, and intriguingly, Chow is credited alongside Wai for Peace Hotelโs story.
Set in an unspecified time that references Chinaโs chaotic warlord era of the 1920s, it stars Chow as a man known only as โThe King Of Killersโ.
Ridden with guilt after committing a massacre, he founds a sanctuary for fleeing criminals called the Peace Hotel. If those in trouble can make it inside, their pursuers are honour-bound to leave them alone.