JOHNNIE TO: BANNED IN CHINA! BANNED IN HONG KONG!

We all know that Johnnie To's EXILED isn't going to be allowed a theatrical release in China, but now the HKSAR is asking him to cut his movie. A sharp-eyed reader sends in the news that the Hong Kong Certification Board wants him to cut a handshake from the film or they'll slap his movie with a Category III rating. Triad hand signs and language will automatically give your film a Cat III rating (equivalent, roughly, to an NC-17 in the US) and the Certification Board says that during a handshake in one scene someone throws a triad sign.

Johnnie To says he asked some triad members if the scene had a triad sign in it and they said "no". But the HK Certification Board said they asked some triad experts the same question and they said "yes". So To cut the shots from the movie and it earned a Category IIB rating.

So if you live in Hong Kong and you want to see the handshake, you're probably going to have to wait until the DVD comes out. You can see the shots in question over here on Apple Daily, and I can testify to the fact that these shots are in the print that's being screened for the press in the US, and so they will probably be in the US release.

(Thanks to the sharp-eyed reader who translated this news and sent it in)