A landmark of HK New Wave cinema. I can't imagine having watched it in its censored versions. The film is rebellious, and it excels most in the scenes of intimacy, playfulness, and unbridled energy. The tram scene is a given classic. By today's standards, the scene is tame, but I'm not sure if I've seen a hand gliding down a tram pole charged with such sexily aesthetic force. I was even more caught off-guard by the theatrical staging of the…

Oh boy, what to do with a film like this?

Let's start here: Hi, Mom is the second highest grossing Chinese film of all time, the second highest grossing non-English film of all time, and the world's highest grossing film by a solo female director ($4 million USD ahead of Wonder Woman).

It's easy to dismiss all Chinese mainstream films as supremely nationalistic and leave it at that, and for the most part, it's true: look at Wolf Warrior 2…