Shanghai Blues
Asian Cinema
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1h 42m
Directed by Tsui Hark | 103 mins | 1984
This kinetic, ultra-stylish screwball comedy/historical romance/backstage musical by the inimitable Tsui—beautifully restored for its 40th anniversary—is one of the most zestily entertaining works of 1980s Hong Kong cinema. Kenny Bee’s nightclub clown and would-be songwriter meets-cute with chanteuse Sylvia Chang during a 1937 bombing raid and the two make plans to find each other 10 years later, only to have their reunion in devastated postwar Shanghai complicated, often hilariously, by intervening fate.
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