Shanghai Blues, like It was a Cold Winter Night (1955), is set during and after WWII, at a Chinese city re-imagined in a Hong Kong studio. But while the war destroys a marriage in Cold Night, it facilitates a romance in Blues, signaling telling differences between the 1950s and 1980s. A man and a woman meet in 1937 under a bridge during an air raid and vow to reunite after victory. Ten years later, they meet again indeed, but that doesn't necessarily mean a reunion... Tsui Hark animates Shanghai of the 1930s and 40s with equal measures of nostalgia for China and projection of Hong Kong modernity, executing the story with a mix of romantic naiveté, cartoonish comedy and ironic sarcasm. The film is also marked by the evocative tunefulness of James Wong's music.

22/10

(Sat)

7:30pm *

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

21/11

(Mon)

7:30pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

* With post-screening talk, with Shu Kei