Celebrated director Stanley Kwan (Lan Yu)) directs Full Moon in New York, an international that tells the tale of three Chinese woman who meet in New York City under different circumstances. But despite their differences, there exist universal, human similarities beneath their disparate lives. Sylvia Chang is a performance artist who’s lived in the states for twelve years, yet has found difficulty adjusting to life in New York due to her Asian “otherness”. Maggie Cheung is a tough Hong Kong woman, who’s successful in a variety of business, though perhaps at some social cost. And great Mainland actress Siqin Gowa is a survivor of the Cultural Revelation who finds it difficult to adjust to married life with an Americanized Chinese and the accompanying in-laws. Together, the three find friendship and some measure of companionship as they brave life in the big city. Like in Stanley Kwan’s other famous works, Full Moon in New York reflects the director’s personal experiences, and paints a complex picture of individuals attempting to copewhile at the mercy of larger circumstances surrounding them. —YesAsia
Stanley Kwan (simplified Chinese: 关锦鹏; traditional Chinese: 關錦鵬; Mandarin Pinyin: Guān Jǐnpéng; Jyutping: Kwan1 Kam2 Pang4; born October 9, 1957 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong Chinese film director and producer.
Kwan landed a job at the TVB after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist College. Kwan’s first film was Women (1985), which starred Chow Yun-fat, and was a big box-office success.
Kwan’s films often deal sympathetically with the plight of women and their struggles with romantic affairs of the heart. Rouge (1987), Full Moon in New York (1989), Centre Stage (1992; aka Actress), a biopic on silent film star Ruan Lingyu and Everlasting Regret (2005), are all such typical Kwan films. Red Rose White Rose (1994) is an adaptation of an Eileen Chang novel.
Kwan came out as a gay man in 1996 in Yang ± Yin, his documentary looking at the history of Chinese-language film through… read more
