Following her parent's separation, 10 year-old Marbles is sent to live with her grandmother in the outskirts of Hong Kong. Also new to town is the seductive pageant queen Rita (Cherie Chung) whose skin-tight leotards pique the interest of a dashing postman (Kent Tong) already involved with the shopkeeper's wife, Lin (Elaine Jin). Meanwhile, the curious Marbles, who has made it a habit of spying on her neighbours with her binoculars, witnesses a murder on a stormy night. A ragtag team of kid detectives comes together. Who is the killer? Where is the body?
Angie Chen, the first female director at Shaw Brothers Studio, began her career with a rich and unclassifiable ensemble film: part comedy of manners à la Shaw, part Nancy Drew-esque nod to Hitchcock’s Rear Window — all of which was marketed by the studio as an erotic whodunnit. Chen's film unfolds as all these things and more: a self-aware portrait of a small-town mentality and community, fore-fronting the interconnected lives of women whose tenacity would become a major theme of Chen's work, developed further in My Name Ain’t Suzie (1985).
directed by: Angie Chen
starring: Chui Hoh-Ying, Cherie Chung, Elaine Jin, Kent Tong
1984 / 90 min / 1.85:1 / Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0
Additional info:
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Region A Blu-ray
- Interview with director Angie Chen (29 mins, 2024)
- Short film Der Besuch (The Visit, 16 mins, 1981)
- Booklet with new writing by Katherine Connell
- Newly translated English subtitles
