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"Comrades, Almost a Love Story" (1996)

A poster for the movie "Comrades, Almost a Love Story." [Image courtesy of Golden Harvest]

The film by Peter Chan is an all-time Chinese classic made in Hong Kong, filled with rich details and wonderful sentiment. The story tells about two Chinese mainlanders living in Hong Kong struggling to live while forming a close friendship. Over a decade, this close friendship grows into love, but problems ensue as their lives are complicated by ties to their pasts and poor decisions. In the end, though they seem meant for each other, they somehow keep missing out – just like the film title says, it's "almost a love story."

With powerful and impressive performances delivered by legendary Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai, the romance is memorable. It won nine awards, including the best picture at the 16th annual Hong Kong Film Awards, and was chosen by Time magazine as one of the world's ten best films of 1997. But the director Chan was humbled by the film's position in Chinese film history and said, "I don't consider 'Comrades: Almost a Love Story' a pure romantic film according to strict standards. At that time, I just wanted to do a film about the relationship to record the decade I had lived in Hong Kong." It should be noted the Chinese title of the film is "Tian Mimi" (literal translation "Sweet Honey"), borrowed from the title of a classic tender song by the late pop megastar Teresa Teng. The song is played throughout the film, making "Comrades, Almost a Love Story" even more classic and nostalgic.