Song of the Exile
(Ke tu qiu hen)

The film’s Chinese title (Autumnal Lament in Exile) is taken from a Cantonese song evoking nostalgia for one’s homeland. This semi-autobiographical film stages several generations who have known exile and live in a place with a problematic identity – the Hong Kong of the 1990s, which was to remain a British colony for another seven years. Hueyin (Maggie Cheung) is the daughter of Aiko, a Japanese woman married to a former soldier from mainland China. Returning from England, Hueyin is unable to readapt. She finally draws closer to her mother only after both of them leave for Japan. AK