Acclaimed director Stanley Kwan’s second film is a multi-layered masterpiece which shifts from romance to murder mystery before transforming into a poignant and haunting look at the anxieties of modern life. Taking place against a hedonistic backdrop of 1980s Hong Kong, the film features early roles for future megastars Tony Leung and Chow Yun-Fat in the tale of a rich playboy involved with several women, who finds himself under suspicion when one of them turns up dead. Though the police investigation initially drives the narrative, Kwan takes the film in an unexpected direction, subverting genre conventions as he explores themes of regret, identity and isolation.
Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London.