Nelson Yu Lik-wai

Camera

Nelson Yu Lik-wai

Born 1966-08-12 · Hong Kong, British Crown Colony [now China]

Yu Lik-wai (simplified Chinese: 余力为; traditional Chinese: 余力爲; pinyin: Yú Lìwéi; Jyutping: Yu4 Lik6 Wai4; born 12 August 1966), sometimes credited as Nelson Yu, is a Hong Kong cinematographer, film director, and occasional film producer. Born in Hong Kong, Yu Lik-wai was educated at Belgium's INSAS (Institut National Superieur des Arts de Spectacle) where he graduated with a degree in cinematography in 1994. Yu has become a mainstay in both the cinemas of China (where he is perhaps best known for his collaborations with director Jia Zhangke) and Hong Kong. Yu has served as director of photography for nearly all of Chinese director Jia Zhangke's films, and along with Jia, the two men founded their own independent film production company, Xstream Pictures.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Dance Me to the End of Love poster
7.0

Plastic city suffers from the big chill. The extreme weather conditions prohibits and human existence on the ground surface. An hostel is under this deserted landscape. A doorkeeper of the hostel Kirin is an orphan and nobody knows exactly where he is from. People named him Kirin simply because he earns his life by collecting emptied Kirin beer cans. One day he meets a woman nomad Lanian.

Dance Me to the End of Love

2004

Dance Me to the End of Love poster
7.0

Plastic city suffers from the big chill. The extreme weather conditions prohibits and human existence on the ground surface. An hostel is under this deserted landscape. A doorkeeper of the hostel Kirin is an orphan and nobody knows exactly where he is from. People named him Kirin simply because he earns his life by collecting emptied Kirin beer cans. One day he meets a woman nomad Lanian.

Dance Me to the End of Love

2004

All Tomorrow's Parties poster
6.1

In a future century, after the apocalypse, Gui Dao dynasty controls continental Asia. Zhuai and his younger brother Mian are captured and sent to "Prosperity Camp" for reeducation. They soon discover that the camp's aim is to brainwash people with propaganda. Five years later, there's a change in government and they are free again. Zhuai falls in love for the beautiful Xuelan and together they take her to an old industrial city, now deserted. They get themselves a place to live in an abandoned apartment and try to rediscover the little pleasures of life.

All Tomorrow's Parties

2003

All Tomorrow's Parties poster
6.1

In a future century, after the apocalypse, Gui Dao dynasty controls continental Asia. Zhuai and his younger brother Mian are captured and sent to "Prosperity Camp" for reeducation. They soon discover that the camp's aim is to brainwash people with propaganda. Five years later, there's a change in government and they are free again. Zhuai falls in love for the beautiful Xuelan and together they take her to an old industrial city, now deserted. They get themselves a place to live in an abandoned apartment and try to rediscover the little pleasures of life.

All Tomorrow's Parties

2003

Love Will Tear Us Apart poster
6.5

The film gets under the skin of a very marginalized group: recent immigrants to Hong Kong from Mainland China. Belying the expectation that they will belong in a territory now returned to China's sovereignty, they find themselves lonely, frustrated, poor, and employable only in the most menial jobs, from elevator service staff to prostitution.

Love Will Tear Us Apart

1999

Love Will Tear Us Apart poster
6.5

The film gets under the skin of a very marginalized group: recent immigrants to Hong Kong from Mainland China. Belying the expectation that they will belong in a territory now returned to China's sovereignty, they find themselves lonely, frustrated, poor, and employable only in the most menial jobs, from elevator service staff to prostitution.

Love Will Tear Us Apart

1999

Plastic City poster
3.9

Yuda, a Chinese immigrant, and his adopted son Kirin, who he saved being eaten by a tiger in the jungle, stand at the head of a massive pirated goods operation that brings in both money and influence. But their empire is crumbling, as corrupt politicians and rival gangs seek to end their power in the city. Yuda is soon got arrested and his dedicated son tries his best to save not just the family business, but his father's reputation.

Plastic City

2009

Jeonju Digital Project 2004 poster
3.0

Three digital short films: 'Influenza' by Bong Joon-ho, 'Kyo-shin' by Sogo Ishii, 'Dance Me to the End of Love' by Yu Lik-wai

Jeonju Digital Project 2004

2004

Jeonju Digital Project 2004 poster
3.0

Three digital short films: 'Influenza' by Bong Joon-ho, 'Kyo-shin' by Sogo Ishii, 'Dance Me to the End of Love' by Yu Lik-wai

Jeonju Digital Project 2004

2004

Neon Goddesses poster
9.0

Three provincial girls departed for Beijing. Yu Quin works as a hostess in a night-club, leaving her two-year-old daughter in someone else's care. Hu Jin is a bit part player and runway model. Zun Ji worked as a dancer in a discotheque, but returned to her hometown after she became a drug addict.

Neon Goddesses

1996

Shanghai, I Love You poster
NR

This "Cities of Love" episode takes us to one of the most fascinating cities in the world. Shanghai stands for a long history of sensuality, intrigues and mystery.

Shanghai, I Love You

Useless poster
6.6

Observations of three varied corners of China’s garment industry: workers in a large-scale production line factory; a designer who rallies against the mass-machine-production of clothes and has created the eponymous hand-made collection called ‘Useless’ (Wuyong) for Paris Fashion Week; and finally the simple life of increasingly out-of-work tailors in small town Fengdang.

Useless

2008

Wild Punch poster
NR

Ma Liang, representing China's first generation of mixed martial arts athletes, has a remarkable record in the arena, but his life is difficult and wretched. As he gets older, under the pressure of both physical and emotional stress, Ma Liang is determined to retire.However, at the retirement banquet, Ma Liang suddenly learned that the highest level of the international tournament alliance will soon enter China to create a top-level selection tournament, digging players, and fight in the world. Maliang's dream that he has been hiding for years is awakened.On the other hand, Pan Jie, a rising talent discovered by Ma Liang himself, has long been impatient and ambitious to seize this opportunity to become famous. As a result, a championship battle that will redefine defeat and victory, wrapped in a storm of ambition and love, dreams and reality, is brewing inside and outside the ring.

Wild Punch