Writing
Two women are bound for the same plane, one of whom makes the flight while the other does not. In a cruel twist of fate, the plane crashes, killing everyone on board, and leaving the friends and family of the two women to talk about what was and what could have been.
A person's life is destined to be shorter than that of a city. Having spent her whole life in Shanghai, Qiyao has her moments of prosperity and her fair share of loneliness. She finally fades and disappears but Shanghai remains a metropolitan city. Shanghai in the 1930s is glamorous and seductive.
Three friends begin a contest to find Karen, a particular girl they all like. The limits: one month, and no advertising or radio. The prize: the losers withdraw and the winner gets free reign to woo her.
An exploration of Chinese cinema and its relationships with gender and sexuality, which the film argues has been more frankly and provocatively explored than in any other national cinema. Utilizing both film excerpts and interviews with many leading directors and academics, the film examines topics such as male bonding in kung fu movies, depictions of same-sex bonding and physical intimacy, the emphasis on women's grievances in melodramas, and the career of Yam Kim-Fai, a Hong Kong actress who spent her life portraying men on and off the screen.
A personal memoir reflecting upon director Stanley Kwan's career and identity, set upon the backdrop of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong. Kwan adopts a complicated cinematic structure which includes excerpts from his previous films, his '97 stage play, and the soundtrack to Wong Kar-wai's "Days of Being Wild."
