Women Who Flirt (2014)

Angie and Marco have been best friends since college, and whilst Angie has always wanted a relationship she doesn't believe a girl can make the first move, whilst Marco just seems to treat her as "one of the boys". When Marco announces that he acquired a girlfriend on a recent trip to Taiwan, Angie's more... let's go with "romantically successful" friend assembles her flirtiest buddies for a mission to teach Angie how to win back her man.

I think Pang Ho-Cheung is one of the best directors Hong Kong has ever produced, so I'm not sure why I've fallen behind on his work... luckily he has hardly released anything since 2014, so it won't take long to catch up!

Hmm.

Pang's films have always had a strong local Hong Kong flavour, so this Mandarin language, Shanghai-set film is quite a departure... one that seems rather relevant to its theme of losing too much if you compromise your identity in a bid for popularity. The fact he has only released two films in the 9 years since suggests maybe he decided that the Hong Kong film industry's pivot to the Mainland market was not one he could make himself.

If this film is a compromise, it's one that works though. Much of this is due to the typically excellent performance by Zhou Xun as Angie. Huang Xiaoming makes a less immediate impression as Marco but strikes a fine balance with his character that makes their relationship feel very authentic.

Sonia Sui Tang is absolutely unbearable as the flirty rival - which is exactly what she was supposed to be, so I probably shouldn't hold it against her - somebody needs to explain that to my feelings though.

Women Who Flirt doesn't quite have the same impact as Aberdeen or deliver the raucous entertainment of A.V. or Dream Home, but it's another smart film with something to say that managed to get under my skin as well. I really wasn't sure which way the ending would go, and I actually cared - even though I would have been quite satisfied with either of the two possible outcomes the scenario suggests.