A historical drama about Xiao Hong, China’s most influential author of the 1930s, comes to the screen by Hong Kong’s master director Ann Hui. The film begins with a soliloquy by Xiao Hong and continues with reflections by fellow writers and letters shared between her and her lover Xiao Jun. Xiao Hong runs away from home at an early age and falls in love with a teacher, Wang Enjia before he abandons her. She later meets and falls in love with editor Xiao Jun, and they begin to live together, but their relationship cannot withstand the chaos of the Japanese invasion. She then meets Duanmu and moves to Hong Kong, where she dies of consumption at just 31 years old. The film is centered on the men of her life but parallels these stories with her maturity as writer by getting acquainted with the literary colossus Lu Xin and contemporary writer Ding Ling. Ultimately, Xiao Hong is not simply portrayed as a great writer, but a woman who lived a tormented and boisterous life during a turbulent era. (KIM Ji-seok)