I keep a Spotify playlist of my favorite needle drops and OST cuts from Hong Kong and other Chinese cinema. Spotify doesn’t have a good mechanism for annotation, so I’m starting to put together this cross-post where I can keep track of the “origin” movies. I’m also tracking English titles and names of original covers, since Spotify is pretty messy about that too.
By the way, I keep a list of my favorite movies from Chinese cinema over on Letterboxd too.
The Private Eyes (1976)
- 半斤八兩 (Half a Catty, Eight Taels) – Sam Hui
- Jyutping: Bun3 gan1 baat3 loeng5
- Pinyin: Bàn jīn bā liǎng
Police Story (1985)
- 英雄故事 (Hero Story) – Jackie Chan
- Jyutping: Jing1 hung4 gu3 si6
- Pinyin: Yīng xióng gù shì
A Better Tomorrow (1986)
- 當年情 (In the Sentimental Past) – Leslie Cheung
- Jyutping: Dong1 nin4 cing4
- Pinyin: Dāng nián qíng
- Birdy’s Flight – Peter Gabriel
- 明天会更好 (Tomorrow Will Be Better) – Lo Ta-yu
- Pinyin: Míng tiān huì gèng hǎo
As Tears Go By (1988)
- 激情 (Take My Breath Away) – Sandy Lam
- Jyutping: Gik1 cing4
- Pinyin: Jī qíng
A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon (1989)
- 夕陽之歌 (Song of the Setting Sun) – Anita Mui
- Jyutping: Zik6 joeng4 zi1 go1
- Pinyin: Xī yáng zhī gē
Days of Being Wild (1990)
- Perfidia – Xavier Cugat
- Maria Elena – Xavier Cugat
- 是這樣的 (It’s Like This) – Anita Mui
- Jyutping: Si6 ze5 joeng6 dik1
- Pinyin: Shì zhè yàng de
Hard Boiled (1992)
- Motorcade – Michael Gibbs
Chungking Express (1994)
- Things In Life – Dennis Brown
- California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & the Papas
- 夢中人 (Dreams) – Faye Wong
- Jyutping: Mung6 zung1 jan4
- Pinyin: Mèng zhōng rén
Fallen Angels (1995)
- 忘記他 (Forget Him) – Shirley Kwan
- Jyutping: Mong4 gei3 taa1
- Pinyin: Wàng jì tā
- Because I’m Cool – Nogabe “Robinson” Randriaharimalala
- 思慕的人 (Longing Person) – Chiyi Chin
- Pinyin: Sī mù de
- Only You – The Flying Pickets
A Hero Never Dies (1998)
- Sukiyaki (Instrumental)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
- Yumeji’s Theme – Shigeru Umebayashi
- Aquellos Ojos Verdes – Nat King Cole
- Quizás, Quizás, Quizás – Nat King Cole
- 花樣的年華 (Age of Bloom) – Zhou Xuan
- Pinyin: Huā yàng de nián huá
- Bengawan Solo – Rebecca Pan
Infernal Affairs (2002)
- 再見…警察 (Goodbye Master) – Fiona Fung
2046 (2004)
- 2046 Main Theme – Shigeru Umebayashi
- Polonaise – Shigeru Umebayashi
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
- 佳人曲 (Beauty Song) – Shigeru Umebayashi, Zhang Ziyi
- Pinyin: Jiā rén qū
Throw Down (2004)
- Stealing Money – Peter Kam
I’m not actually sure what the name of this one is. There are a couple other good cuts in Throw Down too, but as far as I can tell, the OST has never been named and released.
Love in a Puff (2010)
- Why Couldn’t Be Together Everyday? – Alan Wong, Weng Wei Ying
The Assassin (2016)
- Rohan – Men Ha Tan Bagad, Doudou N’Diaye Rose
The Farewell (2019)
- Grandma on the Roof – Alex Weston