Guo Qiang

Han Jie’s feature debut draws on his own experiences growing up in a desolate mining district in northern China’s Shanxi province. A Chinese road movie, Walking on the Wild Side charts a young gang’s continuous flights from one kind of trouble to the next. Mirroring the stark and barren landscape, the film relays the grim story of these delinquents’ dreams of liberty and easy money. Played by nonprofessional actors who are real life troublemakers, the film offers a realism that is at once oppressive, cruel, and sympathetic.

An avid fan of film star Patsy Kar Ling, Tse Sing falls head over heels for his new colleague Cheung Wai-ling who is a spitting image of the star, not knowing that she is the mistress of Manager Chow. When his wife comes to check the new secretary out, Chow lies that she is Tse's wife. When the truth dawns on the eager suitor, he heaps scorn on her. The distressed Cheung becomes suicidal and before taking the fatal pills, opens her heart to Mrs Chow. She is saved in time and, touched by her words, Tse professes his love for her and wins her heart.