A moving animation picture-dream about love and revolution in 1960s Hong Kong, which turned out to be a genuine find at 76th Venice Film Festival in 2019, where it won the Best Screenplay Award.
Set in Hong Kong in the 1960s, as the city is in the midst of mass protests against the British protectorate, the film follows a young and impeccably good-looking university student who agrees to give private English lessons to Meiling, the daughter of Mrs. Yu. Once a member of the opposition movement, Mrs. Yu has lost faith in leftist ideals over time. Meiling, on the contrary, is determined to reject the lessons of her mother's past and enter the liberated yet unknown future. As both mother and daughter gradually fall in love with the tutor, they step into a subtle competition with each other for his feelings, while the city is plunging into the turmoil of the revolution.
The classic of Hong Kong cinema Yonfan's debut animated film elegantly combines a sublime love story, a nostalgic voyage into the almost utopian sixties, and the dreamy aura of time labyrinths, memory, and desire. It is no coincidence that the protagonists read Proust and Jane Austen, and critics compare Cherry Lane's romantic air to that of Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love. Yonfan's picture, however, also includes a good portion of nontrivial humor, playful allusions to pop culture, and ardent irony.
The world premiere took place at the 76th Venice Film Festival, while its Russian premiere concluded Garage Screen's previous season.
The film will be screened in Mandarin, Cantonese, French with Russian subtitles.
No. 7 Cherry Lane
Director: Yonfan
Hing Kong, China, 2019. 125 min. 18+