Where the Wind Blows

Widespread corruption in law enforcement and deals made with competing criminal triads, blurred lines, the power games and regulations under British rule... The complex era of post-World War II Hong Kong finds another enduring story in Where the Wind Blows.

Nam Kong and Lui Lok (icons Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Aaron Kwok) are two righteous police officers who aimed to change the status quo and restore the rule of law, and like so many others with good intentions before them, their efforts too spiralled to hell. But before that, it was glorious: the houses they had built, the times they had had, and the imprints they and their contemporaries left on the city of Hong Kong.

Where the Wind Blows weaves an intricate web of fragile relationships and painful memories, cheerful, elegant dance halls and shootouts in the streets – and love, above all love. A monument of a film by writer-director Philip Yung that, while occasionally echoing the work of Wong Kar-wai and Ann Hui, has its own, distinctive way of allegorising the forces that shaped history with vivid, compelling imagery.