Si Shui Liu Nian
Hong Kong / China,
1984, 96 min
Shown in 1985
CREDITS
- dir
-
Yim Ho
- scr
-
Kong Liang
- cast
-
Siqin Gaowa, Josephine Koo
Shan Shan, a sophisticated young businesswoman disillusioned with the materialistic surrounds of Hong Kong (and her own unfulfilled love life) returns to the small village in southern China where she grew up—to visit the grave of her recently deceased grandmother. Here she meets her childhood friend, Ah Zhen, now a happily married headmistress. Shan Shan’s presence soon causes disruptions in both the village and Ah Zhen’s life as she comes to realize that affection and the bonds of the past are not sufficient to bridge the cultural gaps created though the years. When the time comes for Shan Shan to return to Hong Kong, both she and Ah Zhen have a new understanding of the meaning of friendship. Homecoming marks the much heralded return of director Yim Ho to the Hong Kong cinema after an absence of almost four years. Most of the film was shot on location in Guangdong, China, and effortlessly captures the lyricism and simple beauty of the Chinese countryside. It is a story about the search for roots and the self, exploring not only the dreams and desires of its characters but also the inimitable throb of life in a Chinese village.
—Steve Horowitz
FACTOID #219
Daniel Talbot, editor of Film: An Anthology , was the first recipient of the Mel Novikoff Award in 1988. Later he cofounded New Yorker Films, a distribution company that introduced many foreign language films to North American audiences. The Mel Novikoff Award, named after the pioneering San Francisco exhibitor, is given to an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public’s knowledge and appreciation of world cinema.
