Love Unto Wastes

Stanley Kwan's 1986 Hong Kong film follows four young people who go out together at night. When one of them is killed by burglars in her flat, the others are faced with both mourning and an investigation. The film does not try to solve the murder. What emerges after the death is how little these people knew one another; the narrative uses the police inquiry as a pretext and shows the emptiness in the relationships. Tony Leung and Chow Yun-Fat are in the cast, with Elaine Jin in one of the principal roles. Kwan was working on urban loneliness in this period. The narrative proceeds through jumps in time and the pace is low. Who it's for: those who like the Hong Kong New Wave and character-driven drama. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a detective story; the film puts solving the mystery in second place.