Shanghai Blues

In wartime Shanghai, a soldier and a young woman share a fleeting, romantic promise during a bombing raid, agreeing to reunite after the war without knowing each other’s identities. A decade later, their paths cross again by chance amid the city’s lively nightclub scene, entangled in misunderstandings, new loves, and shifting dreams, as fate quietly tests whether their long-forgotten vow can still come true.

Tsui Hark deliberately made the film feel chaotic, packing scenes with rapid movement, misunderstandings, and overlapping gags to mirror the restless energy of Shanghai itself.

The film works like a romantic screwball comedy disguised as a historical film, driven almost entirely by coincidence and near-miss encounters.

Characters constantly rush in and out of the frame, giving the film a rhythm inspired by silent-era slapstick, filtered through 1980s Hong Kong cinema.