Discussing their Panorama entry Comrades, Almost a Love Story, director-writer Peter Chan and star Leon Lai stressed its relevance to their own experience. Both were immigrants to Hong Kong (Chan was born in Bangkok, Lai in Beijing) and so both can relate to the struggle of the film's characters to adjust to Cantonese ways of life and business.
'It's no accident that the story opens in 1986,' said Chan, 'because that's when Northern Chinese started arriving in large numbers. Previously, most new arrivals had been illegal immigrants from the South. The increasing presence of northerners in the last decade has changed Hong Kong's identity out of recognition.'
Chan, who's best known for the international hit He's a Woman, She's a Man, is currently taking a year off to test the waters in Los Angeles. 'It's clear that the Hong Kong film industry is becoming less self-contained. Cultural and financial boundaries are shifting; Asia is becoming more global, and several Hong Kong directors are making headway in Hollywood. I'm looking to expand the range of choices open to me.'
Leon Lai, one of the megastars of the Cantopop music industry, said that he'll continue to devote 70% of his time and energy to his CDs and concerts. 'I'll do a maximum of two films per year. Fallen Angels has made me known abroad, but Comrades is the film that has changed the Hong Kong audience's view of me. Before, I was just an 'idol'. Now they think of me as an actor.' Tony Rayns
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