Tianguo Niezi

Alternative title: Day the Sun Went Cold, The Day the Sun Turned Cold, The
Synopsis: Feature film. An oedipal mystery melodrama informed by Hamlet. A young man named Guan Jin (TA Chung Wa) walks into a police station, offering information about a 10-year-old murder. He says that the victim was his father; the murderer, he believes, was his mother. It was rumoured that his mother wanted a divorce. One day a neighbour saved Guan Jin and his mother from freezing in the snow and soon there was village gossip about his mother and that neighbour. Guan Jin’s father died, having survived a mysterious illness. Was he poisoned by Guan Jin’s mother? Was it coincidence that his mother then married the neighbour?
Language: Chinese - Mandarin (PRC)
Country: Hong Kong
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1995
Duration: 101 mins

Director

YIM Ho

Producer

YIM Ho

Cinematographer

HOU Yong; SHANG Yong

Screenplay

WANG Zhe Bin; WANG Zing Dong

Music

Otomo YOSHIHIDE

Costume

ZHANG Shu Fang

Art Direction

GONG Ming Hui

Cast

TAO Chung Wa	Guan Jian, the son (Hamlet)
WU’AI-Zi	Liu Dagui, the lover (Claudius)
SI Ching Gao Wa	Pu Fengying, the mother (Gertrude)
MA Jing Wu	Guan Shichang, the father

General: The literal English title is ‘Treacherous Prince’. The screenplay is allegedly based on a true story.
History: In Vancouver Film Festival 1994; Berlin Film Festival 1995
Awards: Won Best Film and Best Director at the 1994 Tokyo International Film Festival

British Universities Film & Video Council