Ip Sau Leung

Two men, a suit and tie by day, turn urban strollers at night and loiter aimlessly around the labyrinth of streets, MTR stations, bars and playgrounds, seeking an escapade from responsibilities that weigh heavily on the mind and fatigue that never goes away. A young woman who has all the time to kill goes to movies and private gigs and answers a stream of inconsequential calls. For a doomsday believer who distributes leaflets to ‘help’ non-believer, it’s Apocalypse Now! It’s inevitable their paths cross at some junctures just as the night passes and a new day dawns.

The title is an allusion to the Chinese gambling game but the story is a treacherous journey with high stakes and a handsome reward. Three friends brave rugged terrain to escape hardship and persecution, surviving on foraged food and their meagre possessions – a pack of ciggies, the Little Red Book of Chairman Mao and three dices – all the while hounded by Red Guards on patrol. Loyalty, friendship and life are bet against a new beginning in the city where the streets are allegedly paved with gold. The odds are against them and the chance of survival is a row of the dice.