Zodiac Killers
(Ji dao zhui zong)

In vain, we search for the Zodiac of the title, the evil “killers” and even more-so the famous zodiac killer, but Ann Hui’s uninhibited foray into a genre favoured by Hong Kong cinema – the gangster film – also shows how agile she is at falling, casually, back on her feet. A Hongkongese student in Tokyo, Ben, spends more energy trying to make a living by any means possible. Accompanied by two friends, one looking to make a place for himself with the yakuzas, the other hopelessly in love and hoping to reunite with his childhood love interest, one evening Ben meets Tieh-lan, also an immigrant, in a club where she is working as a hostess. Despite themselves, they get caught up in a gang war. JB