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"[Durian Durian] follows the path of a young woman, Yan, as she struggles in a dirty precinct of Hong Kong, and her reimmersion into family life after she abandons the world of prostitution in the city. Chan shows us Yan's world through the eyes of an eight-year-old named Fan.
"Yan is scrambling to make a living as a prostitute, furiously scrubbing her body between customers. She's also constantly eating but the food is as much a distraction as anything else.
"Chan trains a jaundiced squint at the coldhearted behemoth, Hong Kong. It's taking its toll on Yan, whose eyes change noticeably once she gets free of the street life and prepares for a middle-class marriage.
"[Durian Durian] has an on-the-run feel, like a combination of a film by the Italian neo-realist director Vittorio De Sica and a 1930 Warner Brothers social melodrama - films in which scrappy protagonists battle the streets to stay alive. It really does feel like a new kind of film from Fruit Chan... It's piquant and modern". - New York Times --- D Fruit Chan P Doris Yang, Vincent Maraval, Alain De la Mata S Fruit Chan, Wai-Keung Chan WS Wild Bunch L Cantonese w/English subtitles TD 35mm/col/1999/116mins