Comrades: Almost a Love Story - 1996 - Peter Chan

Outsiders in an uncaring city. Peter Chan's 1996 melodrama staring Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai as kindred spirits trying to make it in the big city is classic '90's Hong Kong cinema. Opening on a black and white scene of Xiao Jun (Leon Lai) arriving in Hong Kong in 1986. Xiao is a small town kid, speaks no Cantonese, and only knows one person in the city, his aunt Rosie. One day he decides to do something exotic, go to McDonald's. There he meets another Mandarin speaker, Qiao (Maggie Cheung). Their relationships begins with Qiao taking advantage of Xiao but blossoms into a close friendship.   

For a as lovely of a film as Comrades: Almost a Love Story, I was a bit distracted by a could have been version (totally unfair). Christopher Doyle shows up as an actor, what if he would have been behind the camera?  Leon Lai is not bad but, what if he was swapped out for Andy Lau? It is not worth the energy thinking about but Maggie Cheung is so good that the weaker points of the film stand out all the more. Still, it is an effecting ride.