The Longest Summer (去年煙花特別多)

The Longest Summer (去年煙花特別多)

Monday, January 23, 2006 - 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Auditorium (Room 101), Henry R. Luce Hall See map
34 Hillhouse Avenue
New Haven, CT 6511

The Longest Summer (去年煙花特別多, Hui nin yin fa dak bit doh or Qu nian yan hua te bie duo)
Directed by Fruit Chan, 1998 (128 minutes)

As Fruit Chan’s second feature, The Longest Summer is a well-crafted drama about Hong Kong told through its most dubious citizens.

The film centers on five middle-aged ex-soldiers ditched when the British garrison leaves Hong Kong prior to the 1997 handover. Their identity and allegiances left murky, the group sets about re-entering the workforce in a rapidly changing Hong Kong. Finding little steady employment, Ga Yin, a former member of the British Army, falls in with his younger brother Ga Suen as a triad in Hong Kong’s infamous gang underworld. With the uncertainty of the future bearing upon Ga Yin and his comrades, the group decides to rob a bank to provide for themselves. Things don’t turn out as they anticipate, as the consequences for their actions prove disastrous. With July 1997 bearing down, the sky is full of fireworks as are the lives of these downtrodden Hong Kong citizens, each striving for their own identity in the rapidly changing world.

Images of the Cityscape in Hong Kong Cinema Series

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Region: 
China, Hong Kong