The Chinese Box

Here's one for the 1997 time capsule, as Chinese-American director Wayne Wang bids adieu to the former British colony of Hong Kong. Set during the final months of British rule, the film works best as a highly symbolic postcard from a time and a place that may be gone forever. John (Jeremy Irons) is an English writer who's spent the last 15 years living and working in Hong Kong. Unbeknownst to everyone around him, John has leukemia and only a few months to live: His death, it turns out, will coincide neatly colony's return to mainland China. While John has a wife and family back home, his heart belongs to his adopted city and to Vivian (Gong Li), the beautiful mist...