Durian Durian is a two-part film split between Mongkok’s Portland Street in Hong Kong and the north-eastern border region of mainland China. Ah Fan, the young girl from Little Cheung, lives in the former with her poor family, originally from Shenzhen, who illegally overstayed their three month visas to scrape together an income washing dishes and selling cigarettes. Fan meets Yan, a prostitute from the mainland, in a laneway behind Portland Street. They become friends after Yan’s pimp is assaulted in front of Fan by an assailant wielding that most dangerous of weapons, a heavy, sharply spiney-skinned durian fruit. Yan returns to the north-east to invest what she has earned after her three month Hong Kong visa expires.
Director: Fruit Chan. AKA 榴槤飄飄 / Durian Durian
Writer: Fruit Chan.
Stars: Qin Hai-Lu, Mak Wai-Fan, Mak Suet-Man, Yeung Mei-Kam, Wong Ming, Yung Wai-Yiu, Li Shuang, Bai Xiao-Ming, Hu Qing-Yong, Lu Zhi-Han, Yang Xiao-Li, Along, Chang Kin-Yung.
2000 Venice Film Festival – Nominated for the Golden Lion.
an exceptionally charming film from Fruit Chan. Worth watching
Me as a Chinese born in a very small town in North East side, The north part was so real 20 years ago. The realness truly scared me.