Dir: Ann Hui
Scr: Joyce Chan
Prod Co: Hi-Pitch
Cast: Josephine Siao Fong-fong, Kenny Bee, Tina Lau, Lau Hark-suen, Kwan Chung
1980 / Colour / DCP / Cantonese / Chi & Eng Subtitles / 94min

 

A Cantonese opera troupe is invited to perform on an outlying island where tradition interacts with modernity in ways quite different from those in the city. It soon appears that there is something spooky about the island. A ghost appears, followed by more ghosts. And it slowly dawns on the opera players that they are being haunted by the past more complicated than they can imagine…Cantonese opera, the traditional art form that had fallen out of vogue in the 1970s and 80s, provides an evocative dramatic context for the youthful New Wave. Director Ann Hui mounts the misadventures with a delicate balance of divergent genre impulses and a sensitivity towards women characters, realised beautifully by the spirited performance of star-producer Josephine Siao.