Movie Review – Last Romance(1988)

Last Romance(1988) is written and directed by the art-house director Yonfan advocates aestheticism. Every scenes turns the color of rose under his lens. Lost Romance, Peony Pavilion , No.7 Cherry Lane are directed by Yonfan. This film is adapted from Hong Kong writer Yi Shu’s novel. It is about the friendship between two girls So-so(Chung Chor-hung) and Nancy(Cheung Man-yuk) from teenager to adulthood. The film captures the prime time of teenage girls. They take completely different paths after graduating from high school. They have an inseparable bond and lasting friendship since their teenage years. What do girls like to talk about? Boys. Unfortunately, they fall in love with the same guy Ga-ming. Their friendship face challenges because of a boy. Previously, they are best friends. Soso leaves her relative’s home and lives in her friend’s home after her father dies. Even Nancy’s parents judge Soso, Nancy defends for her. They do not leave each other because of taking different paths. They have different circumstances at work. So-so steps into the society earlier than Nancy. When So-so works, Nancy is still studying the university. So-so works as a nightclub hostess. After graduating from the university, Nancy works at a fashion company. 

Nancy is soft on the outside, strong on the inside. She wears oversize shirt, blazer at work. She looks for love in dating. When Ga-ming only misses So-so when he is dating Nancy. Nancy feels jealous and starts to lie to her bestie. After struggling of being a jerk, she becomes calm and honest to So-so. She also complains to So-So that she does not have the luck for love like her. Her colleague who is a young boy expresses his affection to Nancy but she does not love him. They can be honest with each other.

Moreover, the movie does not explain the origin of her name Nancy in Chinese Nan Sun. The novel explains that her grandmother prefers for sons over daughters. When the grandchild is not male, she names her Nan Sun. Nan means boy and Sun means grandchild in Chinese. The old generation prefers giving birth to males so males can carry on one’s ancestral line. Relying males earn money to support family. Old people also think that bring up children is for the purpose of being looked after in old age. Nowadays, people spend lots of money to raise their children in a knowledge oriented society. The preference for sons over daughters is decreasing as females can achieve much more than before. However, women's work is never done which is the sentence from  Because we’re women by Joyce Stevens. Is it enough for females to dress well like a doll and become a vase only? To be pretty is the first mission of being women. Everyone likes Venus who is the god of beauty. But women can be so much more. Women's rights are still improving under the patriarchal society and females should raise our voices until we are heard. 100 Women of the Year project was launched by Time magazine. Influential women were selected to appear on the cover of Time magazine. They are the Person of the Year. It aims to celebrate the contributions of women. People have a stereotype that women aren't as competent as men. Girls are perceived weak females. Women are weak by nature, but strong as mothers. The identity of being a woman is already controversial. If you wear less, you are a slut. If you wear too much, you are conserved. If they encounter harassment or assault, they should be the Silence Breakers. Women’s rights are human rights. Women and girls should be empowered so they have capability to choose. What women look like matters but what women do also matters. Females have different personality types. They can be charming and boring, emotional and rational, rebellious and submissive. For instance, Beyoncé keeps doing her best. Beyoncé won best album which is her eighth album, Cowboy Carter at the 67th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in 2025. Record-breaking Beyoncé given Grammy by Taylor Swift. She has been working in the music industry for over thirty years. She sang Blackbird at the National Football League. We’re Lucky to live in the Age of Beyoncé. A country girl and Black Americana from Houston won the Recording Academy’s biggest award. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter who was once a black child became a superstar. Young Black girls and women can look up to this outstanding Black women country star. She does not just focus on her music career. She voices out for black lives to supports the Black Lives Matter movement that fights for racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Haters may hate, but she just does her best. 

In the film, So-so is charming, sophisticated and righteous. She has different wearing style comparing to Nancy. She wears alluring and feminine outfits with large gold earrings. So-so looks for reliable man that can provide stable life to her. She will get married for money rather than love. Soso attracts many men. Apart from her husband and Ga-ming, wealthy merchant Mr Lee also likes Soso. Every girls wears high heels and fragrance to look mature and feminine to attract males. When they are mature in thinking, they will expand their thought. No flower can bloom for a hundred days. The maturity and wisdom of femininity is a lasting beauty. In today’s society, is it common for women to change her destiny based on marriage? There are plenty of examples. In today’s knowledge-oriented society, the spirit of being strong and independent is spread. However, well-educated women also want to marry a rich man. Stable life cannot guarantee you a happy marriage. There are women get married with her love one. It really depends on your fate to have a stable and happy marriage life.

To conclude, this film portrays the girls’ growth and transformation and the women who have gone through many hardships gradually matured. Also, it showed the atmosphere of Hong Kong's economic takeoff in the 1980s and the unique Hong Kong style and charm of that era.