It is really sad that Edward Yang passed away so young, I enjoyed all his films and Yi Yi in particular. In a way I think Koreeda has picked up where Yang left off. There is a great affinity between the two and I am glad we still get those kind of films.
Last year I did enjoy a few small films from Hong Kong that gave some hope that there will be a new generation of directors and potential for another new wave. These are namely, Chun Wong's Mad World 一念無明, Chan Chi-fat's baseball movie Weeds On Fire 點五步 and Trivosa 樹大招風.
Of the three I think Mad World is the most accomplished and I found it very affecting in a similar way that Ann Hui often did, with her Tin Shui Wai films for example, that focus on the stress and displacement of the ordinary working class people. I didn't expect such a good performance from Shawn Yue.
Weeds on Fire isn't as good as Taiwan's Kanu as a baseball movie, a bit melodramatic, but it was decent and I loved it since I used to play baseball in HK and never imagined a movie about this ever getting made.
Trivosa is a strange one, it is produced by Johnnie To and it felt like it could be a one of his off-beat crime dramas. I know people who loved it and others who hated it, but I thought it did what it set out to very well and reflects the mood I feel in HK. I still want a proper Johnnie To crime movie though, it's been a while since he made Election 1 and 2, a third one is long overdue.
I think these small movies is where HK cinema is at, the commercial scene as others said have been tainted by mainland market pressures and censorship. The old masters have somewhat moved on from Cantonese films.