It was a Cold Winter Night

Dir/Scr: Lee Sun-fung
Orig Story: Ba Jin
Prod Co: Hwa Lien
Cast: Ng Cho-fan, Pak Yin, Wong Man-lei, Lee Ching
1955 / B&W / DCP / Cantonese / Chi & Eng Subtitles / 137min

It was a Cold Winter Night is the tale of a man's struggle to balance between love for his wife and loyalty to his mother. It is on one level a deeply touching personal story and, on another, a distillation of the modern Chinese man's burden, torn between the weight of traditions, the reformation of values resulting from the epochal May Fourth Movement, the devastation of war and the upheavals of changing times. Adapted from a novel by the influential writer Ba Jin, the film finds the veteran Lee Sun-fung, at the height of his artistry, penning a sublimely-observed script and directing with delicate touches and profound but subtle animations of complex emotions. Complemented in turn by the superb performances of stars Ng Cho-fan, Pak Yin and Wong Man-lei, this is the art and craft of Cantonese cinema at their best.