Hong Kong - 2008 - 35 mm, 102 min.
A tainted love affair unravels between a petty criminal and a beautiful waitress in the passionate melodrama Ocean Flame, the last work by Liu Fendou, enfant terrible of mainland Chinese cinema who won the Golden Durian Award at BAFF 2004 with his acclaimed Green Hat. The film is quite strange for a Hong Kong release. Based on a novel by Wang Shuo, Ocean Flame is produced by Hongkonese star Simon Yam. Yet, it features a Mainland director, a non-local principal cast, and a very Mainland feel. Story takes place in flashback as Wang Yao leaves a Hong Kong prison and visits the relatives of Lichuan, whom he fell for and made part of his hotel-room sex scams blackmailing horny males. Violently charming and tenderly sado-masochistic, the film exposes the fragile side of abuse melting it into crushing romanticism. At times brutal yet excruciatingly tender and cutting edge, Ocean Flame confirms Liu's place as China's new spokesman of provocative aesthetics.