My Heart Is That Eternal Rose

Patrick Tam, 1989, Hong Kong, 90min

Once only ordinary drama came between Lap (Joey Wong) and Rick (Kenny Bee). The lovers worked together at Lap’s father’s bar, where business was slow but enough. But then her father Cheung and Rick are coerced into one last job with the Triad that goes terribly wrong. Her father now a target wanted dead, Lap seeks the tutelage and haven of a slippery rival boss named Godfather Shen, whose desires she must answer in return. After hiding in the Philippines for six years, Rick is assigned a hit job back in Hong Kong, where he finds his old flame, Lap, nestled reluctantly in the arms of Shen and fawned after by her young friend Cheung (a very early turn by Tony Leung). Reunited, the love triangle erupts a bloody gang war. 

Directed by Patrick Tam, Wong Kar-Wai’s mentor and a key figure of the Hong Kong new wave, shot by venerated co-cinematographers Christopher Doyle and David Chung, and with music by Danny Chung (Happy Together), this pulpy 80s classic looks and sounds as lush as ever in its lavish new 2K restoration.