‘The Last Dance’ Review: Hong Kong Blockbuster Resonates With Compassion And Authenticity

deadline.com:

Hong Kong moviegoers continued to prove their willingness to turn out for local productions in 2024, pushing Anselm Chan’s funeral drama The Last Dance to become the most successful local film of all time at the Hong Kong box office with over $18 milion.

The success of The Last Dance followed Soi Cheang’s nostalgia-fueled martial arts thriller Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong’s Oscar submission) and its portrayal of the notorious, long-demolished Kowloon City neighborhood.

There is a sustained desire, it would seem, to preserve and celebrate specific elements of Hong Kong culture which have come under threat in recent years, as the city is fast coming to resemble just another Chinese metropolis.

The Last Dance enshrines precisely the same sensibility as its recent box office predecessors, albeit in a markedly different tone.