Zen and Sense in King Hu's Films

Film Screenings


A Love Story

Dir/Scr: Griffin Yueh Feng
Cast: Luo Lan, Wang Hao, Helen Li Mei, Wu Jingping, Shi Lei
1954 / B&W / D Beta / Mandarin / 105min

After leaving The Great Wall Movie Enterprises Ltd, Yueh founded the Dafang Film Company and made an unconventional love story. Wang Hao and Wu Jingping share a room, with their respective girlfriends Helen Li Mei and Luo Lan living in an adjourning room. Wang is obsessed with work and cannot stand the around-the-clock attention of Li. Luo Lan has a serious outlook on life, while Ng wants to cuddle all the time. The two pairs of lovers fall out. They only find true happiness after switching partners among themselves. Yueh creates a delicate situation with simple characters and a simple plot. His works often emphasize universal love, human feelings and dignity. While they start out being flawed, the characters realise that love is not everything, and are even ready to give up their new-found love out of guilt towards their former lover. The film is progressive without being political as in the Great Wall period. In one night scene, no one speaks in the darkness, and the silence is only broken by the sounds of sobbing. A consummate director, Yueh managed to flout the usual narrative conventions after going independent.

30/8 (Sat) 7:30pm Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive  

21/9 (Sun) 4:30pm Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive  

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