"Hong Kong 1941 is one of several recent Hong Kong movies to look back to the time of the territory's fall to the Japanese, perhaps indirectly reflecting anxieties about the future, when Hong Kong reverts to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Against the backdrop of the Japanese invasion, the film plays out a charged and ambiguous triangle drama: two dock-workers are in love with the same girl, the slightly simple-minded daughter of their boss, and one of them decides to clear the way for the other by appearing to turn collaborator. The script (written by an outstanding young journalist and essayist) turns less on melodrama than on strong and unpredictable characterizations and the interesting lead actors grasp its opportunities with skill and imagination. Director Leong Po-Chih (was) born in Britain, but (has been) a prominent figure in Hong Kong cinema since the mid-1970s." Tony Rayns, Edinburgh Film Festival '85