{ "id": "epe1mz8y84", "slug": "night-and-fog-2009-film", "title": "Night and Fog (天水围的夜与雾) (2009 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films", "label": "Biographical and historical drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "label": "Released 2006 to 2009", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Night and Fog (天水圍的夜與霧) is Ann Hui's 2009 Hong Kong drama, second of her Tin Shui Wai diptych after The Way We Are, starring Simon Yam and Zhang Jingchu, adapted from the real 2004 Tin Yat Estate family massacre.", "snippet": "Night and Fog (天水圍的夜與霧) is Ann Hui's 2009 Hong Kong drama, second of her Tin Shui Wai diptych after The Way We Are, starring Simon Yam and Zhang Jingchu, adapted from the real 2004 Tin Yat Estate family massacre.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "markdown": "# Night and Fog (天水围的夜与雾) (2009 film)\n\n**Night and Fog** (天水围的夜与雾) is a 2009 Hong Kong drama directed by Ann Hui (许鞍华), the second of her two films set in the Tin Shui Wai new town, following *[The Way We Are](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-way-we-are)* (2008). It dramatizes a real 2004 domestic murder case in which an unemployed Hong Kong husband killed his mainland-born wife and their two young daughters, and it uses that tragedy to examine domestic violence, poverty, and the failures of the social safety net.[1](https://appimg.modaily.cn/app/szb/pc/content/202509/11/content_433958.html) • [2](https://global.hk01.com/%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1/60285349/%E8%AE%B8%E9%9E%8D%E5%8D%8E%E4%B8%8D%E6%8A%97%E6%8B%92%E5%88%9B%E4%BD%9C%E5%81%8F%E5%A4%9A%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E8%AE%AE%E9%A2%98-%E5%94%94%E8%A7%89%E5%BE%97-%E7%8B%AE%E5%AD%90%E5%B1%B1%E4%B8%8B-%E6%AF%94%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1%E5%B7%AE)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / writers | Ann Hui; script by Cheung Kin-Wai (张经纬) and Alex Law (罗启锐)[3](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/night_and_fog.html) |\n| Cast | Simon Yam (任达华) as Lee Sum, Zhang Jingchu (张静初) as Wong Hiu-ling, with Jacqueline Law (罗慧娟) and Amy Chum (覃恩美)[3](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/night_and_fog.html) |\n| Basis | The 2004 Tin Yat Estate, Tin Shui Wai family massacre: a 45-year-old husband long abusive toward his 31-year-old wife and their daughters aged 6 and 5[2](https://global.hk01.com/%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1/60285349/%E8%AE%B8%E9%9E%8D%E5%8D%8E%E4%B8%8D%E6%8A%97%E6%8B%92%E5%88%9B%E4%BD%9C%E5%81%8F%E5%A4%9A%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E8%AE%AE%E9%A2%98-%E5%94%94%E8%A7%89%E5%BE%97-%E7%8B%AE%E5%AD%90%E5%B1%B1%E4%B8%8B-%E6%AF%94%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1%E5%B7%AE) |\n| Release | World premiere 22 March 2009; Hong Kong release 14 May 2009; runtime 122 minutes[4](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/8099040/) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392249/) |\n| Languages / production | Cantonese and Mandarin; produced by Class Limited (卡士有限公司) and Mega-Vision Pictures (影王朝), with Wong Jing as presenter[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392249/) • [6](https://search.worldcat.org/title/-/oclc/1006646198) |\n| Box office | Worldwide gross of $155,937[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392249/) |\n| Recognition | Simon Yam received a Best Actor nomination at the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/299965/) • [8](https://www.tkww.hk/epaper/view/newsDetail/1372778289617309696.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and structure\n\nWong Hiu-ling (王晓玲), a woman from rural Sichuan who had worked in Shenzhen, met Lee Sum (李森), an older Hong Kong renovation worker, married him, and moved with him to a Tin Shui Wai public housing estate with their two young daughters.[12](https://ent.sina.cn/review/media/2010-04-15/detail-icesifvx6942983.d.html?vt=4) • [1](https://appimg.modaily.cn/app/szb/pc/content/202509/11/content_433958.html) The much older Sum, long unemployed and living on social welfare, grows suspicious and volatile; he resents his wife working, takes out his frustration in escalating violence against her and the children, and threatens to kill her and the daughters.[1](https://appimg.modaily.cn/app/szb/pc/content/202509/11/content_433958.html) • [13](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B0%B4%E5%9C%8D%E7%9A%84%E5%A4%9C%E8%88%87%E9%9C%A7-2)\n\nWith a neighbor's help, Hiu-ling seeks help from a district councillor and social workers and is placed in a women's shelter, later returning to Shenzhen to stay with her family; Sum goes to the mainland to bring her back, and when the couple returns to Hong Kong and she plans a formal separation, events slide toward the fatal outcome.[13](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B0%B4%E5%9C%8D%E7%9A%84%E5%A4%9C%E8%88%87%E9%9C%A7-2) • [14](https://storage.googleapis.com/tghff_outland/download/programme/2009/2009FF.pdf)\n\nThe film opens after the killings and reconstructs the family's history through staged interview segments, police questioning, and flashbacks told from the angles of neighbors, friends, and relatives, so that the truth arrives partly as other people's conjecture.[3](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/night_and_fog.html) • [15](https://blog.udn.com/cinema/2829453) Reviewers noted this documentary-inflected method: the daily texture of the family's life is intercut with the sudden eruption of the tragedy, and the ending is known from the start, so the film's tension lies in how the disaster becomes possible rather than in what happens.[1](https://appimg.modaily.cn/app/szb/pc/content/202509/11/content_433958.html) • [3](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/night_and_fog.html)\n\n## Background: Tin Shui Wai and the 2004 case\n\nTin Shui Wai, in northwest [Yuen Long](https://www.edgepedia.org/yuen-long) in the [New Territories](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-territories), was developed in the early 1980s from a small fishing village into a public housing new town. Its remoteness and shortfalls in medical, educational, transport, and community services made it a concentration point for Hong Kong's poor and new immigrants from the mainland, and a series of family tragedies there between 2004 and 2007 led the Hong Kong media to label it a \"City of Sadness\" (悲情城市), a byword for domestic violence, unemployment, and despair.[9](https://m.fx361.com/news/2009/1231/26152588.html)\n\nThe film's immediate source was the 2004 massacre at Tin Yat Estate (天恒邨), in which a husband killed his mainland-born wife and their two young daughters and then killed himself; press coverage of the case and of Tin Shui Wai's other tragedies fixed the \"sad Tin Shui Wai\" label in the public mind.[2](https://global.hk01.com/%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1/60285349/%E8%AE%B8%E9%9E%8D%E5%8D%8E%E4%B8%8D%E6%8A%97%E6%8B%92%E5%88%9B%E4%BD%9C%E5%81%8F%E5%A4%9A%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E8%AE%AE%E9%A2%98-%E5%94%94%E8%A7%89%E5%BE%97-%E7%8B%AE%E5%AD%90%E5%B1%B1%E4%B8%8B-%E6%AF%94%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1%E5%B7%AE) • [10](https://news.sina.com.cn/c/sd/2011-07-15/152122820895_2.shtml) Ann Hui said the case shook her. To understand it she visited Tin Shui Wai, attended the dead woman's funeral in Shenzhen, and came to know her family, gathering background that fed the screenplay.[11](https://www.hkadc.org.hk/media/files/aboutus/publications/hkada_souvenir_book/HKADA2010_SouvenirBook.pdf) The filmmakers also conducted multiple interviews with survivors of the real tragedy, and some locations in the film are the actual ones, though the family's estate and flat were not.[3](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/night_and_fog.html)\n\n## Relation to The Way We Are\n\n*The Way We Are* (2008) had portrayed Tin Shui Wai gently, following a supermarket worker, her son, and an elderly neighbor through ordinary days, and it won four Hong Kong Film Awards at the 28th edition, including Best Director for Hui.[16](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_29304934) • [17](https://news.tvbs.com.tw/entertainment/127719) *Night and Fog* was made as its deliberate counterpart: Hui had first filmed the district's warm, ordinary face partly so that the later, darker film could not be dismissed as rubbing salt in wounds, and the two together were widely discussed as a diptych showing the same community from opposite ends.[18](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B0%B4%E5%9C%8D%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A5%E8%88%87%E5%A4%9C) • [19](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0418/8138119.html)\n\nWhere the first film shows residents content with little, the second shows a household living on welfare, unemployed, and embittered, and its tragedy is presented as rooted in long-standing shortages of support and resources in the community rather than in one man's cruelty alone.[20](https://www.filmcriticschina.org/?p=351) Critics read the couple as an image of cross-border marriage tensions: a mainland bride's dream of Hong Kong colliding with the precarious identity of a poor local husband, with the public housing flat becoming the trap where the two meet.[21](https://www.polyu.edu.hk/chc/-/media/department/chc/content/study/master-of-arts-ma/dissertations/2016-17/07.pdf?hash=DFD3CC7D8EC61E5F643BE1661361AE89&rev=dc01989a1704407eb2af0bf96a8abede)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film premiered on 22 March 2009 as one of the opening films of the Hong Kong International Film Festival and opened commercially in Hong Kong on 14 May 2009.[4](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/8099040/) • [15](https://blog.udn.com/cinema/2829453) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392249/) Its commercial run was small, with a reported worldwide gross of $155,937, and one Hong Kong reviewer complained that marketing and cinema scheduling had served it poorly.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392249/) • [22](https://travelerwithmovie.com/2009/05/19/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B0%B4%E5%9C%8D%E7%9A%84%E5%A4%9C%E8%88%87%E9%9C%A7%EF%BC%9A%E4%B8%80%E9%97%95%E6%B2%89%E9%87%8D%E7%9A%84%E5%93%80%E6%AD%8C/)\n\nCritical response was broadly positive. The LoveHKFilm review called it harrowing and genuinely involving, praising Hui's assured direction and [Simon Yam](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-yam)'s frightening performance while noting that the husband is at times rendered as a broadly drawn villain and that the parade of unhelpful officials is an obvious thematic device.[3](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/night_and_fog.html) The Cinespot review scored it 8 out of 10 and credited the film with probing the nature of truth, human nature, and social conscience through its intricate structure.[13](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B0%B4%E5%9C%8D%E7%9A%84%E5%A4%9C%E8%88%87%E9%9C%A7-2) Some mainland commentary was more reserved, judging that the Sichuan sequences dragged and that the film showed more visible craft than its predecessor.[12](https://ent.sina.cn/review/media/2010-04-15/detail-icesifvx6942983.d.html?vt=4) At the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards Simon Yam was nominated for Best Actor for the film, one of two nominations he held that year.[8](https://www.tkww.hk/epaper/view/newsDetail/1372778289617309696.html)\n\nScholarship has kept the film in view as a case study: Gina Marchetti, a professor of film studies whose work centers on Hong Kong cinema, treats *The Way We Are*, *Night and Fog*, and *All About Love* together as Ann Hui's exploration of domestic violence, family life, and women's lives on screen in Hong Kong.[23](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118883594.ch12) Social-work writing has also used the film to discuss resilience among women facing domestic violence.[19](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0418/8138119.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. [逃不出的冷漠邊城, 澳門日報](https://appimg.modaily.cn/app/szb/pc/content/202509/11/content_433958.html)\n2. [許鞍華不抗拒創作偏多社會議題, HK01](https://global.hk01.com/%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1/60285349/%E8%AE%B8%E9%9E%8D%E5%8D%8E%E4%B8%8D%E6%8A%97%E6%8B%92%E5%88%9B%E4%BD%9C%E5%81%8F%E5%A4%9A%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E8%AE%AE%E9%A2%98-%E5%94%94%E8%A7%89%E5%BE%97-%E7%8B%AE%E5%AD%90%E5%B1%B1%E4%B8%8B-%E6%AF%94%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1%E5%B7%AE)\n3. [Night and Fog (天水圍的夜與霧) (2009), LoveHKFilm review by Kozo](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/night_and_fog.html)\n4. [Night and Fog 2009, Kinoafisha](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/8099040/)\n5. [Night and Fog (2009), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392249/)\n6. [天水围的夜与雾, WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/title/-/oclc/1006646198)\n7. [天水围的夜与雾 Night and Fog (2009), 1905电影网](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/299965/)\n8. [《十月圍城》破紀錄獲19項提名, 大公報](https://www.tkww.hk/epaper/view/newsDetail/1372778289617309696.html)\n9. [《天水围的日与夜》, 参考网/电影评介](https://m.fx361.com/news/2009/1231/26152588.html)\n10. [「悲情市镇」天水围, 新浪网新闻](https://news.sina.com.cn/c/sd/2011-07-15/152122820895_2.shtml)\n11. [香港大學文學院學院藝術家計劃榮譽博士學位頌詞：許鞍華 (2010)](https://www.hkadc.org.hk/media/files/aboutus/publications/hkada_souvenir_book/HKADA2010_SouvenirBook.pdf)\n12. [《天水围的夜与雾》：血淋淋的悲情一刀, 东方早报 via 新浪](https://ent.sina.cn/review/media/2010-04-15/detail-icesifvx6942983.d.html?vt=4)\n13. [天水圍的夜與霧, Cinespot 動映地帶](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B0%B4%E5%9C%8D%E7%9A%84%E5%A4%9C%E8%88%87%E9%9C%A7-2)\n14. [2009台北電影節場刊：天水圍的夜與霧](https://storage.googleapis.com/tghff_outland/download/programme/2009/2009FF.pdf)\n15. [夢斷異鄉移民淚─《天水圍的夜與霧》、《新宿事件》, udn部落格](https://blog.udn.com/cinema/2829453)\n16. [锐评｜周珂伊：《天水围的日与夜》：每个人的日常诗学, 澎湃新闻](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_29304934)\n17. [第28屆香港金像獎得獎名單, TVBS](https://news.tvbs.com.tw/entertainment/127719)\n18. [天水圍的日與夜, Cinespot 動映地帶](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B0%B4%E5%9C%8D%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A5%E8%88%87%E5%A4%9C)\n19. [电影《天水围的夜与雾》, 参考网/艺术科技](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0418/8138119.html)\n20. [天水圍的夜與霧, 香港影評人協會/Film Critics China](https://www.filmcriticschina.org/?p=351)\n21. [香港理工大學碩士論文（2016–17）論《天水圍的夜與霧》](https://www.polyu.edu.hk/chc/-/media/department/chc/content/study/master-of-arts-ma/dissertations/2016-17/07.pdf?hash=DFD3CC7D8EC61E5F643BE1661361AE89&rev=dc01989a1704407eb2af0bf96a8abede)\n22. [天水圍的夜與霧：一闕沉重的哀歌, 有故事的旅人](https://travelerwithmovie.com/2009/05/19/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B0%B4%E5%9C%8D%E7%9A%84%E5%A4%9C%E8%88%87%E9%9C%A7%EF%BC%9A%E4%B8%80%E9%97%95%E6%B2%89%E9%87%8D%E7%9A%84%E5%93%80%E6%AD%8C/)\n23. [Gina Marchetti, \"Feminism, Postfeminism, and Hong Kong Women Filmmakers,\" A Companion to Hong Kong Cinema, Wiley](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118883594.ch12)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/night-and-fog-2009-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/night-and-fog-2009-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Night and Fog (天水围的夜与雾) (2009 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/night-and-fog-2009-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Night and Fog (天水围的夜与雾) (2009 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/night-and-fog-2009-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/night-and-fog-2009-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/night-and-fog-2009-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Night and Fog (天水围的夜与雾) (2009 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/night-and-fog-2009-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Night and Fog is Ann Hui's 2009 Hong Kong drama, second of her Tin Shui Wai diptych after The Way We Are, starring Simon Yam and Zhang Jingchu, adapted from the real 2004 Tin Yat Estate family massacre." }