Yu lou san feng (1960)

This is the story of three ladies who live together in an apartment in Hong Kong and what happens to them. First, there is Shuxian, whose husband left her and has a son in the hospital who can't walk (not fully explained, maybe polio?). Then, there is Meifen, a romance novelist who pines for a deceased lover and, finally Manli, a young lady with some sass who is expecting a visit from Mr. Zheng, a man she has been a pen pal with for a year. She also has been dating someone else, not happily (obviously, if she is looking elsewhere). The film goes through all three lives. What I like a lot is that three characters have disparate lives. They are not the same age, they have different stages of maturity and they have different views of the past and future. However, despite that, they act like sisters. I like the interaction between them. As the title suggests, there is comedy, drama and an overall notion that somehow these three will help each other, even though it appears they are not cut from the same cloth. The standout is Nanli, played by Kitty Ding Hao. She was in the great "Mambo Girl" as Grace Chang's sister, she was the star of "Dream Come True", a sometimes silly but winning comedy, and she shines here as the slightly immature but passionate Manli. Watching her in this film, and in the other two I mentioned, I feel sad that she died so young (by her own hand). She had a flair for comedy and is a very pretty lady. I'm just glad we have these films to appreciate her acting talents. So, what you have here is a great "chick flick" about three ladies who help each other, who act like sisters. I really liked it a lot. If you like this kind of film, this is strongly recommended.