Red Dust (1990 film)

Red Dust
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese滾滾紅塵
Simplified Chinese滚滚红尘
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinGǔngǔn hóngchén
Directed byHo Yim
Written bySanmao
Ho Yim[1]
Produced byHsu Feng[1]
StarringBrigitte Lin
Chin Han
Maggie Cheung
CinematographyHang Sang Poon
Edited byCheung-Kan Chow
Music byShih Jei-yong[1]
Lo Ta-yu[2]
Production
companies
Tomson Films Co.[1]
Pineast Pictures[1]
Distributed byGolden Harvest Productions (Hong Kong)
Release dates
  • November 23, 1990 (1990-11-23) (Hong Kong)
  • December 8, 1990 (1990-12-08) (Taiwan)
Running time
94 minutes
CountriesHong Kong
Taiwan
LanguagesCantonese
Mandarin
Box officeHK$6,656,716[2]

Red Dust is a 1990 drama film directed by Ho Yim. A Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film follows the life of an independent-minded woman writer during the Japanese occupation who falls in love with a man collaborating with the Japanese.

Plot

During the turbulent 1940s in Japanese-occupied Northeast China, Shen Shao-Hua is punished by her father for falling in love with a classmate. Locked away in the attic and surviving a suicide attempt, she channels her emotions into writing. Following her father's death, Shao-Hua grows into a modestly famous novelist, continuously working on her semi-autobiographical novel.

One day, she receives a letter from an admiring reader, Chang Neng-Tsai, a cultural official working for the Japanese. Despite learning of his background, Shao-Hua falls for him. Although Chang bears no blood debt, he often has to evade assassination attempts by nationalists, whom he secretly assists by helping them relocate. Meanwhile, Shao-Hua's childhood friend Yueh-Feng, distressed after fighting with her revolutionary boyfriend, comes to stay. The three spend a brief period of time together. On a day trip, they witness the brutality of Japanese soldiers against Chinese civilians at a checkpoint. Though Chang's travel papers spare them, his identity is exposed. Yueh-Feng, disgusted, sees him as a traitor. The outing ends in a bitter falling-out.

After Japan's surrender, the Nationalist government begins rounding up traitors. Neng-Tsai flees to a rural village and hides, posing as the partner of a local widow. Shao-Hua eventually finds him, but the sight of him living with another woman to survive devastates her. Heartbroken, she returns to live with Yueh-Feng, only for the past to catch up. Neighbors inform on them, and thugs raid the home. Yueh-Feng protects Shao-Hua and is injured in the process.

Their next-door neighbor, Yu, a quiet businessman who has long harbored unspoken feelings for Shao-Hua, steps in to care for her. Not long after, Yueh-Feng and her boyfriend are killed during an anti-government protest. Shao-Hua survives with Yu's support and later runs into a now impoverished Neng-Tsai. On the eve of the Communist victory, Yu trades his gold for two tickets on the last boat to Taiwan, hoping to flee the mainland with Shao-Hua. Instead, Shao-Hua gives her ticket to Neng-Tsai and watches him sail away. Yu, unwilling to abandon her, gives up his chance to escape and remains by her side.

Shao-Hua lives out her days in quiet obscurity. Forty years later, Neng-Tsai returns to the mainland in search of his lost love, only to find a copy of Shao-Hua's completed novel.

Cast

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Charles, John (2000). The Hong Kong Filmography, 1977-1997: A Reference Guide to 1,100 Films Produced by British Hong Kong Studious (2009 ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-7864-4323-9.
  2. ^ a b "Red Dust (1990)". Hong Kong Movie Database. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Red Dust - sogoodreviews.com". www.sogoodreviews.com. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
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