Zhang Zemin is one of the fifth generation Chinese filmmakers who made an impact on western audiences with his 1985 film Swan Song; but since then, unlike his peers Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, who consolidated their careers internationally, Zeming`s films have not been seen as widely - until now. He left China in 1989 and went to live in London and his latest film, Foreign Moon reflects his own experiences there as an expatriate. Foreign Moon is about three chinese emigrees - 20 year-old Lan Lan, newly arrived, who discovers her sponsor expects her to marry his son, Su Tong, whom she befriends and his flatmate Deng Lin. These three each have their own desperations about life in the new country... This poignant story about strangers in a foreign land has at its heart the love story between Lan Lan and Su Tong. Harrison Liu plays Su Tong with a quiet dignity, newcomer Vicky Chan Hsiao-Hsuen is delightful as Lan Lan, and Chen Da Ming is charismatic as Deng Lin. Zhang Zemin achieves a delicate reality in the lives of the characters; his focus on the small moments brings a clarity to our understanding of their situation. This is a lonely and frightening world, and they survive by clinging together.
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