FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Maggie Chueng's role in In The Mood for Love is just one of her acclaimed performances from a career that spanned for decades (she retired from acting in 2013). Your choices, then, for what we'll show on Tuesday 7 May are out of three more films starring Chueng from then 80s, 90s and 2000s.

Hero (Yimou Zhang, Hong Kong/China, 2002)

"Demonstrates how the martial arts genre transcends action and violence and moves into poetry, ballet and philosophy." - Roger Ebert

An unnamed fighter (Jet Li) is honoured for defeating three of the king's most dangerous enemies. When Nameless recounts his battles with the assassins - Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Moon (Zhang Ziyi) - the king begins to question some of the details, interjecting his own take on Nameless’s version of events. Director Yimou Zhang (Raise the Red Lantern) and regular Wong Kar-wai collaborator, Oscar-winning cinematographer Christopher Doyle fashion a visually arresting martial arts epic set in ancient China that won critical and commercial acclaim when it dazzled audiences in 2002.

IrmaVep (Oliver Assayas, France, 1996)

"A film of such spontaneity, freshness and breezy chaos that you feel as if it were assembled from happy accidents and inspired, seat-of- the-pants improvisation." - San Francisco Chronicle

Washed-up French director René Vidal (400 Blows’ Jean-Pierre Léaud) hopes to turn his career around with an update of 'Les Vampires', a silent-era masterpiece about about a notorious ring of thieves, led by crafty female crook Irma Vep. René brings in Chinese star Maggie Cheung (Maggie Cheung) to play Vep - but Maggie cannot speak French, is being pursued by obsessive crew member Zoe (Nathalie Richard) and her character's criminal ways begin to rub off on her… Irma Vep is Assayas at his lightest and most playful - simultaneously a gently satirical dig at the state of French cinema and a love letter to the female star who would become his wife.

Police Story (Jackie Chan/Chi-Hwa Chen, Hong Kong, 1985)

"It's the joy of watching Chan, a Buster Keaton of kickboxing, hurling himself into every stunt with total commitment, astounding athleticism and oddly unflappable, shaggy-haired grace.” - Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

Police officer Chan Ka Kui (Jackie Chan) manages to put a major Hong Kong drug dealer behind the bars practically alone, after a shooting and an impressive chase inside a slum. Now, he must protect the boss’ secretary, Selina (Brigitte Lin), who will testify against the gangster in court. Plotwise that's about it. Maggie Cheung plays it for laughs as Chan’s girlfriend, but it's the series of escalating set-pieces that resulted in many of Jackie’s stunt team being hospitalised that make the film so much fun.