Rarely seen outside of Hong Kong, Eight Taels of Gold forms the final part of Mabel Cheung’s “Migration Trilogy”, alongside her debut The Illegal Immigrant (1985) and perineal favourite An Autumn’s Tale (1987). Whereas the earlier films show the experience of immigrants in New York, Eight Taels of Gold flips the story for a homecoming of sorts. Sammo Hung stars as Ba Leung Kam, a New York taxi driver intent on returning to rural China and the family he left behind. When he reunites with his childhood friend Wu Tsui Po (Sylvia Chang), she agrees to help him track them down. Soon mild tolerance grows into something much more, despite what circumstances may throw at the pair.
Co-written by her long-time partner Alex Law, the pair collaborated the year before with Hung on Painted Faces, about Hung’s own experiences in Peking Opera School. Here the chemistry between Hung and Chang is every bit as magical as that of Chow Yun-fat and Cherie Chung in An Autumn’s Tale. It was selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 63rd Academy Awards (1991), but was not accepted as a nominee.
