Wayne Wang's film
Written by Jean-Claude Carriere
Starring Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, Maggie Cheung, and Michael Hui
Director Wayne Wang, an American Chinese and originally a native of Hong Kong, borrows the main male character, John (Jeremy Irons) to speak out his truth regarding the Hong Kong Handover 1997. John, a British journalist, who is dying of leukimia, decides to act on his love for a woman, Vivian (Gong Li) who is an owner of bar. She is engaged to a Hong Kong businessman (Michael Hui). As John is told he might not live through the Hong Kong Handover, he escapes his daily routine and runs around to take pictures of Hong Kong. Then, he meets Jean (Maggie Cheung), a young girl who was dumped by a British boyfriend because his parents could not accept a Chinese girl in his family.
The audience can catch the fear of uncertainty in the people's mind, and the continued encountering of racial discrimination by the British.
One scene in the movie was filmed at Asiaweek's office in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, and other indoor scenes include the China Club and the Hong Kong Jockey Club. When John took his co-worker to the top of Victoria Peak by motorcylce, his colleaque commented it was such beautiful, panoramic view, but boring. He preferred to take the closeup pictures of the city, capturing daily lifestyle scenes like slaughtering a chicken's head with a cleaver in the market, playing mahjong in the street, enjoying a cup of noodles in small apartment, etc. These are scenes of the real Hong Kong, and director Wayne Wang has captured them faithfully in this quirky, unforgetteable movie. Worth watching multiple times.
