Hong Kong A City of Sadness is a Hong Kong–Taiwan co-production — one of only a handful of such cross-border film titles indexed here.
Synopsis
悲情城市
The story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror", mainland China's political repression that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government in the late 1940s.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #63 of 836 Hong Kong films indexed here (92nd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.0 points above the Hong Kong average of 6.3/10.
Among Hong Kong Drama productions specifically: #35 of 311 (top 11%).
Hong Kong × Taiwan Co-Production
Other Hong Kong×Taiwan titles
Drama + History in Hong Kong
15 Hong Kong titles in our catalog blend the Drama and History genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding A City of Sadness itself).
The 1988–1990 Hong Kong Window
Among 67 Hong Kong films we catalog from this window, A City of Sadness places #8 — near the top of its class.
The 1980s Hong Kong Landscape
1989 was the decade’s peak output year for Hong Kong — 20 titles released, including A City of Sadness. Bars below show how the 1980s stacked up year by year (151 total).
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 19 other Hong Kong films in 1989.
The 280th Hong Kong title from Hong Kong we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1955).
Our Hong Kong catalog contains 836 titles in total (828 films).
Audience Engagement
110 audience reviews — more than 83% of Hong Kong films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 74th percentile among Hong Kong films.
Production Details
| Primary Country | Hong Kong |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Hong Kong, Taiwan |
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Spoken Languages | Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese |
| Production Companies | ERA International, 3-H Films |
| Runtime | 2h 39m |
| Release Date | October 21, 1989 |
| IMDb | tt0096908 |