Lung Kong’s first color feature expands on thematic concerns supplanted in The Story of a Discharged Prisoner made one year before, situating issues of social reform within an impassioned romantic melodrama. The relationship between a career criminal and a blind girl (a stunning performance by Josephine Siao) form a portrait of marginalized life in a rapidly-modernizing Hong Kong. The profound chemistry between Patrick Tse and Josephine Siao onscreen served as the primary inspiration for the famed hit man-blind girl pairing in John Woo’s award-winning film The Killer (1989).
