An award-winning film adapted from Lilian Lee’s novel of the same name, this film’s plot centres around an alluring female ghost who comes back to modern Hong Kong to search for her old lover. As her story moves between the present and the past, it reflexively comments on the passage of time and the cultural changes that have taken place. The decadent glamour and passionate feeling of the old love story contrasts blatantly with the blandness of modern life in the 1980s. The female ghost's arduous but fruitless search for her lover can be seen as a metaphor for Hong Kong people's search for cultural identity. But the city is also like the old lover: afraid of mortality, unable to return to the past, and doomed to be haunted by ghosts. The mise-en-scène, exquisite composition, delicate expression of emotions and smooth camera movements, all serve to embellish a romantic narrative aimed at suturing the audience's nostalgic emotions.
(This film is part of the “Haunted Screen: Hong Kong Ghost Films” programme.)
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17/11

(Sat)

7:30pm *

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

25/11

(Sun)

2:00pm #

Broadway Cinematheque

* Post-screening talk with Natalia Chan
# Post-screening talk with Giorgio Biancorosso, hosted by Bede Cheng