#patrick tam

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

Love Massacre (Patrick Tam, 1981)

[sacredwhores]

Patrick Tam - My Heart Is That Eternal Rose (1989)

[manderley]

NOMAD dir. Patrick Tam (1982)

[ladamarossa]

Patrick Tam’s HK slasher masterpiece 愛殺 aka Love Massacre (1981) has finally been restored! The film is currently being screened at film festivals in Hong Kong and Tokyo, with hopefully more screenings to take place in the near future.

[gusvanscant]

'My Heart Is That Eternal Rose' (dir. by Patrick Tam) [1989]

[xinyuehui]

Honourable Mentions of Recent Dramas

The Glamorous Night 夜色正浓 The Devil Between Us 除恶 Themis 正義女神

[No Spoilers]

It might seem like I'm not very active on the cdramas lately, but it's because the ones I'm watching has zero fandom on tumblr sadly. Following my last recommendation post, I bring you three more female protagonist dramas.

One of each from the big 3, Tencent, iQiYI and Youku(& TVB). From left to right, The Glamorous Night, The Devil Between Us and Themis. The good thing about non-idol dramas is that it's uploaded onto Youtube in full to watch.

夜色正浓 The Glamorous Night

Cast. Jiang Shuying, Tong Dawei, Lan Yingying

Available on YT with subs (24eps) ﹢

The Glamorous Night told the story of a group of young people working in the imported liquor industry in the first-tier city of Guangzhou. The story followed Zhao Mei (Jiang Shuying) as she fought for the position of sales director alongside her colleagues. During this critical period in her career, she discovered that her husband, Li Dongming (Tong Dawei), was having an affair. Her husband also happened to have business ties with her company, which could potentially jeopardise her job if she divorced him. Along the way, the characters were tested by human nature and the harsh realities of life, ultimately growing from low-level sales promoters into influential figures in the industry.

It was a fantastic urban business drama set in a modern city environment. The show revolved around the main cast navigating workplace politics, discrimination, and social dynamics. I personally thought it was the best out of the three. It portrayed women pursuing ambition in the workplace while tackling taboo topics, such as women sleeping with their bosses in exchange for success. The writing for the male characters was equally raw and exposed the uglier side of both work and family life. Overall, it was a great workplace drama with an unexpected twist at the end.

除恶 The Devil Between Us

Cast. Ren Suxi, Wang Xiao, Cai Wenjing, Li Zefeng

Available on YT with subs (16eps) ﹢

The story started in a small coastal town, where a major drug crackdown operation was interrupted, resulting in a bag of drugs going missing. The drugs ended up in the hands of an ordinary civilian, Cheng Ken (Wang Xiao), whose daughter suffered from uremia and was in desperate need of money for her treatment. Hu Wenjing (Ren Suxi) was a police officer who accidentally disrupted the arrest because she was not assigned to the case. Due to this mishap, her promotion was denied. In order to make up for the damage, she requested to be involved in the aftermath investigation. From there, a series of unexpected twists and turns unfolded.

It was a tightly packed 16-episode drama filled with suspense. The ensemble cast was very compelling. At first, everything seemed unrelated, but as the show progressed, the evidence and clues gradually tied everything together.

The only downside was that the pacing towards the end felt a little rushed, and the story wrapped up with a few loose ends. However, the ending did hint at the possibility of a second season.

正義女神 Themis

Cast. Charmaine Sheh, Patrick Tam, Alice Chan

Available on TVB Anywhere (25eps) ﹢ North America try this link

High Court Judge Yen Hye Chi (Charmaine Sheh) was at the peak of her career when a case she wrongly judged turned her life around. Due to this mistake, she refused a job promotion and transferred to juvenile court to prevent it from happening again, and in the hope of prosecuting Ko Sing Ban (Samantha Lau Cheuk Yan) once again, as she had accidentally let him slip through the first time.

It was a fairly standard TVB legal drama, produced by the team behind The Queen of News — which you guys already know I loved. However, I have to say this was weaker than The Queen of News. The cases were quite fast-paced and were not as focused on juveniles as in Endless Protection (2025). It was more prominently about professionals in the criminal justice system, i.e. judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and probation officers. Charmaine, Alice, Benz, etc. are all solid TVB actors, so there were no surprises there.

The biggest highlight was the juvenile teenage boy Ko Sing Ban, played by Samantha Lau Cheuk Yan, who, to my surprise, is in fact a 26 year old with a master's degree in criminology, and this was her first major role. An antagonist who really sent chills down your spine. It was great to see some fresh blood in TVB.

TVB dramas are difficult to recommend in general if they don't have a Mandarin dub, never mind for non Mandarin/Cantonese speakers, there's literally no subtitles for a lot of newer shows and it's a shame because there are some good ones.

Some other honourable TVB drama mentions:

麻雀乐团 Heavenly Hand

This is a very rare original TVB drama in this day and age, it's not a collab with Youku or iqiyi. Quite a heartwarming and fun drama, I enjoyed it. It's about mahjong and orchestra, very interesting combination of topics. This is also how I found out there is some deep rps lore between 狄龙/姜大卫 that's some real old man yaoi.

非常檢控觀 The Unusual Prosecutor

This one is a Youku collab. Morden Justice Bao, loosely based on the The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants novel. It has the famous cat and mouse ship. Standard legal workplace drama, the unusual part comes from the main character in which he has mirror-touch synaesthesia. The synaesthesia premise is quite unique, it gives the story some extra layers.

I have not watched Sammy's Children's Day yet, does that count as a Hong Kong/Cantonese drama?? I wished they released it in Mandarin, the Cantonese dub is a bit shit which made it hard for me to get through EP1. (The only time I wished I didn't speak Chinese)

[afteralifeahead]

Nomad dir. Patrick Tam Kar-Ming (1982)

I watched this film for the first time yesterday and wow… It's amazing and so singular! The way it captures this youth's will to oppose and subvert established order and treats it as an effective driving force toward utopia is so cool. I also love how Patrick Tam emphasizes this chaotic energy by deliberately creating tone discontinuities between scenes. And adding to all that, the very distinctive 80s Hong Kong cinema vibe makes the whole thing even more charming!

[uspiria]

Love Massacre (1981) dir. Patrick Tam