Known for Directing
Johnnie To Kei-Fung (Chinese: 杜琪峯, born 22 April 1955) is a Hong Kong film director and producer. Popular in his native Hong Kong, To has also found acclaim overseas. Intensely prolific, To has made films in a variety of genres, though in the West he is best known for his action and crime movies, which have earned him critical respect and a cult following. His films, often made in collaboration with the same group of actors, screenwriters and cinematographers, frequently explore themes of friendship, fate and the changing face of Hong Kong society. Sometimes described as "multifaceted and chameleonic" due to his ability to switch tones and genres between movies, To is nonetheless seen as having a consistent style, which involves mixing subdued realism and social observation with highly stylized visual and acting elements. To heads the Hong Kong-based production company Milkyway Image with his frequent co-director Wai Ka-Fai.
Born
April 22, 1955 (age 71)
Birthplace
Hong Kong, British Crown Colony [now China]
Filmography
173 films, 11 shows


Septet: The Story of Hong Kong
2022 · 1h 52m
country: China
A seven-part anthology film exploring the history of Hong Kong from the 1940s to present day.


Chasing Dream
2019 · 1h 58m
country: China
A young man and woman meet each other and forge a special connection due to violent circumstances and debt issues. He is a prize fighter who wants to be champion of the world, she is a talented singer who dreams of major success. Both will do anything to achieve their dreams, fighting with everything they can in this life so there’s no regrets in the next.


Three
2016 · 1h 28m
country: China
Realising that he will be defeated in no time during a police showdown, a thug shoots himself to force the cops to cease fire and take him to the hospital. In the hospital, he claims human rights to refuse immediate treatment in order to buy time for his underlings to rescue him. The detective in charge sees through his scheme but decides to play along so as to capture his whole gang once and for all.


Office
2015 · 2h
country: Hong Kong
Two assistants, Lee Xiang and Kat, start new jobs at the financial firm Jones & Sunn. Lee Xiang is an earnest young man who naively enters the world of high finance with noble intentions. Kat on the other hand has a secret.


Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2
2014 · 1h 53m
country: China
Two former lovers find themselves irresistibly drawn back together — despite the fact that each of them is engaged to someone else.


Blind Detective
2013 · 2h 9m
country: China
A brilliant detective is forced into early retirement after losing eyesight. Making ends meet by solving cold cases for reward money, he teams up with a rookie lady inspector to solve a case from her personal past.


Drug War
2012 · 1h 47m
country: Hong Kong
A drug cartel boss is arrested in a raid and coerced into betraying his former accomplices as part of an undercover operation.


Romancing in Thin Air
2012 · 1h 52m
country: Hong Kong
After his new bride dumps him at their wedding reception, a heartbroken actor winds up in the mountains, where he meets and falls in love with a widowed fan.


Life Without Principle
2011 · 1h 47m
country: Hong Kong
A criminal, a bank clerk and a police officer find their destinies entwined when a loan shark gets assaulted after having withdrawn $10 million from the bank in the midst of the world financial crisis.


Don't Go Breaking My Heart
2011 · 1h 55m
country: Hong Kong
A typical story of the classic romantic triangle, where one person ends up having to choose between two others. This time, it is set against a backdrop of offices in Hong Kong, with a focus on architecture and its designers.


Vengeance
2009 · 1h 48m
country: France
A French chef swears revenge after a violent attack on his daughter's family in Macau, during which her husband and her two children are murdered. To help him find the killers, he hires three local hit-men working for the mafia.


Sparrow
2008 · 1h 27m
country: Hong Kong
Kei is the experienced leader of a team of pickpockets — also known as "Sparrows" in HK slang. He enjoys a carefree lifestyle taking photos. One day a dashing beauty, Chun-Lei, suddenly appears in Kei's viewfinder. Kei is mesmerized. But behind Chun-Lei's attractive facade lies a mysterious past and a mission to set herself free.


Linger
2008 · 1h 28m
country: Hong Kong
A woman is revisited by the ghost of her ex-boyfriend, three years after a car crash took his life.


Mad Detective
2007 · 1h 31m
country: Hong Kong
Bun, a schizophrenic, former police inspector comes out of retirement to help a rookie detective solve a complex murder case involving a missing colleague and a suspected policeman suffering from a multiple personality disorder.


Triangle
2007 · 1h 33m
country: China
Life has not been kind to drinking buddies Sam, Fai, and Mok as they struggle to make ends meet, until one stormy evening when a mysterious old man appears before them in a bar with a 'get rich quick' scheme: an ancient treasure buried under a high-security government building.


Exiled
2006 · 1h 48m
country: Hong Kong
A friendship is formed between an ex-gangster, and two groups of hitmen - those who want to protect him and those who were sent to kill him.


Election 2
2006 · 1h 32m
country: Hong Kong
As election time nears, current Triad chairman Lok faces competition from his godsons. At the same time, Jimmy looks to increase his business relations with mainland China.


Election
2005 · 1h 41m
country: Hong Kong
After losing an election to become chairman of the Wo Lin Shing triad, a gang leader lashes out and tries to seize the dragon-head baton, the official symbol of a chairman's authority.


The Open Road
2005 · 17m
country: Hong Kong
An inspirational short film by Johnnie To.


Yesterday Once More
2004 · 1h 38m
country: Hong Kong
Mr. and Mrs. To are wealthy, creative jewel thieves who divorce for no apparent reason after a successful diamond heist. A year later, she's engaged to the son of a rich woman who begrudgingly lets her son give his fiancée a family heirloom after she signs a pre-nup.


Throw Down
2004 · 1h 36m
country: Hong Kong
A former Judo champion is given the chance to redeem himself after he befriends a competitor and an aspiring singer.


Breaking News
2004 · 1h 30m
country: Hong Kong
After a disastrous failure to stop a robber gang, the police attempt to redeem themselves through a series of publicity stunts and shootouts.


Running on Karma
2003 · 1h 34m
country: Hong Kong
A monk turned body-builder, with the gift to see into people's lives, befriends a female cop, and uses his gift to change the force of Karma and her destiny.


Turn Left, Turn Right
2003 · 1h 36m
country: Hong Kong
An aspiring violinist and a professional translator live parallel lives and appear to be perfect for each other, but somehow fate seems to keep them apart. Living in different units of the same apartment building, they never meet, because when they leave, one turns left, and one turns right.


1:99 Shorts
2003 · 1h 12m
country: Hong Kong
Shorts made by 11 directors in order to fight against the SARS epidemy that occurred in China and Hong Kong in 2003. The shorts were produced by the Information Service Departement of the Government of HK SAR. The aim was to bring back confidence to the HK popuation. The running-time is 1 to 2 minutes for each short.12 Short films: 1-"Rhapsody", director: Johnny To and Wai Ka-fai; 2-"My Sow Is Not Feeling Well", director: Fruit Chan; 3-"Smile", director: Teddy Chen; 4-"Of a Cause" (Animation) director: Tsui Hark; 5-"Hong Kong - A Winner", director: Stephen Chow; 6-"Who's Miss Hong Kong?", director: Joe Ma; 7-"Family of Heroes", director: Alex Law and Mabel Cheung; 8-"Until Then", director: Gordon Chan and Dante Lam; 9- "McDull 1:99" director: Brian Tse; 10-"Spring, 2003", director: Peter Chan; 11-"A Glorious Future", director: Andrew Lau and Alan Mak; 12-"Making of 1:99", director: Wong Shou-Ping.


PTU
2003 · 1h 28m
country: Hong Kong
Follows a police tactical unit during one dangerous night on the streets of Hong Kong as they try to recover a cop's stolen gun. Things turn deadly when they run into a web of gangland crimes.


Love for All Seasons
2003 · 1h 33m
country: Hong Kong
May is a martial artist and Chinese medicine practitioner who resides in a temple in Omei mountain. Under the threat of her lovelorn master, Misery, she decides to seek the help of infamous womanizer, Tiger Hung, who she had helped earlier, in order to experience heartbreak and master the "Heartbroken Sword" technique to defeat her.


My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
2002 · 1h 37m
country: Hong Kong
A car accident gives a spoiled, troubled young woman the ability to see ghosts, including one of a former classmate.


Fat Choi Spirit
2002 · 1h 36m
country: Hong Kong
Follows the adventures of a compulsive Mahjong player named Andy and his aging mother, estranged brother, loyal ex-girlfriend, and a local gang.


Running Out of Time 2
2001 · 1h 35m
country: Hong Kong
Ho Sheung Sang finds himself wrapped up in another cat-and-mouse game, this time against a tricky magician.


Fulltime Killer
2001 · 1h 42m
country: Hong Kong
Professional assassin O has resided in an isolated world of killing and loneliness. But his life begins to change once he meets the innocent Chin; hired to clean O's apartment. However, soon the flamboyent and reckless Tok enters Chin's life with a mission to unveil O's identity and usurp his place as the number one sharp-shooting assassin in the game.


Love on a Diet
2001 · 1h 34m
country: Hong Kong
A depressed, obese woman tries to lose weight in order to win back her ex-boyfriend with the help of a fellow Hong Konger whom she met in Japan.


Wu Yen
2001 · 2h 3m
country: Hong Kong
Lost in the woods, the Emperor Qi stumbles across local chief Wu Yen, his predestined bride, only to accidentally free a promiscuous fox fairy who promptly falls in love with both of them, changing between man and woman to clumsily woo each, setting the scene for a constantly shifting triangle with the emperor torn between both the fox fairy and Wu Yen and the fox fairy after whichever one will agree to marry her first.


Help!!!
2000 · 1h 32m
country: Hong Kong
A trio of idealistic young doctors take on a corrupt, ineffective hospital management more interested in saving dollars than lives. Sub-plots crop up in the form of a love triangle, an electrical blackout, and a major car accident.


Needing You...
2000 · 1h 41m
country: Hong Kong
Wah and Kinki both work at a computer company. Despite not getting on too well initially, their friendship develops into romance when they get to know each other after a while.


The Mission
1999 · 1h 24m
country: Hong Kong
Triad boss Lung, who has just escaped being killed in an assassination attempt hires the killers Curtis, James, Mike, Roy and Shin for his protection.


Running Out of Time
1999 · 1h 33m
country: Hong Kong
Police inspector and excellent hostage negotiator Ho Sheung-Sang finds himself in over his head when he is pulled into a 72 hour game by a cancer suffering criminal out for vengeance on Hong Kong's organized crime syndicates.


Where a Good Man Goes
1999 · 1h 30m
country: Hong Kong
Fresh from a prison term, a former Triad boss resides in a hotel in Macau, where he befriends its owner and her young son.


A Hero Never Dies
1998 · 1h 38m
country: Hong Kong
Jack and Martin are gunmen who work for two rival kingpins. Jack and Martin have been fighting on their bosses behalf for close to a year. When a truce is made both Jack and Martin are cut loose. The two men then decide to join forces and take on the gangsters who used them.


Lifeline
1997 · 1h 48m
country: Hong Kong
A heroic but cocky firefighter pays no regard to the dangers of the job but lacks the courage to face his personal demons. When faced with a giant and volatile inferno, he must put aside personal differences with his boss if they are both to survive.


A Moment of Romance III
1996 · 1h 35m
country: Hong Kong
Lau Tin Wai is a fighter pilot in the Chinese airforce who is forced to ditch in a field; he is taken in by the remote community of farmers who nurse him back to health, here he meets Ting Siu Wo, a young woman who falls in love with him.


Loving You
1995 · 1h 24m
country: Hong Kong
A man re-evaluates his life after being given a second chance. When seedy cop Liu Chen-hai is shot, he is forced to do some soul-searching about his old life.


Dead End
1995 · 1h 23m
country: Hong Kong
Wong Tat Lung was hunted down by the triads in Hong Kong twenty years ago and became a resident of the black market in Toronto, where he stayed for twenty years without an identity card. He joined a gang and made a lot of money by working as a black market gambler. He has not returned to Hong Kong for 20 years and has not fulfilled his fatherly duties. His daughter, Wong Siu Ming, hates him, but because she is entrusted by her late mother, she has to go to Toronto to see her father. In order to meet his daughter, Lung buys a big house and participates in a coke deal in order to give her some money, but the deal goes bad and is busted by the police. Lung even betrays Tony, a gangster, and is hunted down by him. When Lung meets his daughter for the first time, he is killed by Tony, but there is video evidence of Tony's murder. Tony then hunts down and kills Sau Ming and Lung's henchman, Fu Chai, and Fu Chai and Sau Ming are forced to flee for their lives and fight with Tony.


Heroic Trio 2: Executioners
1993 · 1h 37m
country: Hong Kong
In a post-nuclear world, three superpowered women fight an evil genius controlling the government and the water supply.


The Mad Monk
1993 · 1h 29m
country: Hong Kong
The gods in heaven complain to the Jade Emperor about the malicious practical jokes played on them by Dragon Fighter Lohan.


The Bare-Footed Kid
1993 · 1h 27m
country: Hong Kong
A poor barefoot young man from the country arrives in the city to start work with the friend of his dead father.


The Heroic Trio
1993 · 1h 28m
country: Hong Kong
While one tough woman with an invisible robe has stolen 18 babies for her powerful master, two other tough women and the cops try to stop her.


Iron Butterfly III: Tomorrow
1992 · 1h 18m
country: Hong Kong
Tomorrow is a Hong Kong made-for-TV movie starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai


Justice, My Foot!
1992 · 1h 35m
country: Hong Kong
An unscrupulous lawyer with an equally eccentric kung-fu sidekick wife tries to bring justice to the court.


Lucky Encounter
1992 · 1h 28m
country: Hong Kong
Two inventors encounter a friendly little ghost, and stumble onto a plot to capture the ghost's uncle who was responsible for his untimely death. However, the inventors are warned by a spiritual master that humans and ghosts cannot co-exist in the same room at the same time. Doing so would cause a drainage of humans' life force.


Casino Raiders II
1991 · 1h 31m
country: Hong Kong
Chicken Feet assists in running an honorable gambling den owned by the crippled Uncle Fan and his son Kit. Having previously tried to shut down the gambling den and take over by paralyzing Fan and framing Kit for another man's murder, ruthless local Triad boss, James goes a step further by murdering Fan. Driven only by money and the pursuit of two valuable 'Jade stones', James kidnaps Kit's daughter so he will surrender gambling in order for James to win the upcoming Championship.


The Royal Scoundrel
1991 · 1h 29m
country: Hong Kong
Beach Boy is a maverick cop whose unorthodox and incompetent ways are frowned upon by his uptight superiors. His inept partner Mr. Chow isn't much help, and is more concerned with taking care of his many, many children. On a routine stakeout, Beach Boy and Mr. Chow rescue a lovely Mainland girl named Ah Yuk, who was previously abused by her criminal uncle.


Behind Bars
1990 · 1h 26m
country: Hong Kong
A man serving a sentence for a white-collar crime navigates the thorny realities of prison life.


The Story of My Son
1990 · 1h 15m
country: Hong Kong
Li Tzu-Liang is returning to Hong Kong with the ashes of his wife. He now has to bring up his two sons on his own. Though he is quite well-off, he his plagued by debts and when he loses a large sum of money betting on horses, he has to turn to dangerous loan-sharks. Here starts a spiral which gets him and his two sons deeper and deeper into trouble.


The Iron Butterfly II
1990 · 1h 18m
country: Hong Kong
A Hong Kong homicide detective insists on the same name that his father, Rock Moon, has died and carved it deeply into his heart. In this case her mother is treated in a psychiatric hospital. Have found that their heads are the same in recent drug trafficking and crime-ridden campaigns.


The Fun, the Luck & the Tycoon
1990 · 1h 30m
country: Hong Kong
Lam Bo Sun, the richest man in Hong Kong, is expected to marry the ditziest of socialites in a matter of weeks. On a whim, he leaves everything behind and gets a job as a lowly busboy at a noodle restaurant, and finds the girl of his dreams.


Story of Nam
1989 · 1h 25m
country: Hong Kong
Nam was originally a Vietnamese soldier, yet because he hated the cruelty of war, he fled to Hong Kong and was placed in a refugee camp. Anan reunites with his long-lost brother in the camp. The two hope to immigrate to France and have a new life. In the refugee camp, the two gangs headed by big bully Kei and Kuen, who often fight openly and secretly for power.


The Iron Butterfly
1989 · 1h 19m
country: Hong Kong
The police feel the case is serious, then send Shan, Hui even hand investigation, two at first did not and, as understanding deepens, emotional surge; and Ling-hui is the subordinate Li Jian fell in love. Hui Shan and strengthen business gang raids, thereby forcing each gang leader to surrender Aberdeen, against being next use, health and more were killed.


All About Ah-Long
1989 · 1h 35m
country: Hong Kong
Ah-Long, a father living a low-class lifestyle, while trying to raise his son, Porky. The strong bond between father and son is tested when a chance encounter from Ah-Long's ex-girlfriend changes the course of their lives.


The Big Heat
1988 · 1h 38m
country: Hong Kong
Inspector Waipong Wong has to put his life and resignation from the HKPD on hold to investigate his former partner's mysterious murder. What he and his crack team of three other cops uncover is a plot far more sinister than they originally anticipated.


The Eighth Happiness
1988 · 1h 31m
country: Hong Kong
Three oddball brothers go looking for love but unfortunately, their out-there personalities get in the way!


It's No Heaven
1988 · 1h 42m
country: Hong Kong
Lung’s wife was raped and murdered, and the killer escaped justice. Consumed by grief and rage, Lung killed him and fled to Hong Kong, only to fall into the hands of a snakehead gang and be forced into a life of crime as a bank robber.


The Betrayal
1988 · 1h 27m
country: Hong Kong
The film tells the story of Chen Baili's father, the director of the Shanghai Police Department, who was bizarrely murdered for investigating the theft of state secrets. In order to find out the truth, Cha Li and his assistant Ai Li returned to Shanghai from the United States for investigation.


Seven Years Itch
1987 · 1h 22m
country: Hong Kong
An introverted businessman who doesn't get out much, Willie Ng recently celebrated his seventh anniversary, but his marriage seems to be hitting a slump. His wife is a Cantonese opera aficionado who often complains that her husband is boring and doesn't appreciate the arts. Willie himself is also eager for some action to break the monotony. When he goes to Singapore on a business trip, he encounters cute pickpocket Siu Hung at the airport, triggering off a series of events that puts his marriage in jeopardy.


Happy Ghost III
1986 · 1h 29m
country: Hong Kong
A young, unsuccessful singer, after committing suicide, is to be reincarnated, this time into a musical family. Her spirit must get to the hospital where her future mother is currently ready to give birth to her, so that she can enter the womb and be born. Unfortunately, she misses her appointed birth time, twice, due to the accidental intervention of a young man, Mr. Hong. At first she is angry and makes life hard for him, but eventually they fall in love, although she can't stay around long as she has one last chance to be born.


The Enigmatic Case
1980 · 1h 28m
country: Hong Kong
An imprisoned swordsman is accused of killing three men. He probably would have already been executed for his crimes but is kept alive because he knows the whereabouts of hidden gold.