THREE MINUTES PAST NINE

The Story

Alan Tang plays a photographer from Taiwan visiting a friend in Hong Kong who runs a magazine. Upon his arrival, Tang is literaly bumped into by a beautiful young lady who accidently knocks his pocket watch to the ground and steps on it. The watch is forever frozen at three minutes past nine.

The lady tries to repair the watch for him but is unable to do so. She presents him with a new one and the two become friends. She agrees to act as his guide and he photographs her in various places around Hong Kong. They are attracted to each other.

Tang's Hong Kong friend who runs the magazine convinces Tang to photograph a sexy, beautiful fashion model. This leads to a romantic triangle when Tang's girlfriend believes he is cheating on her. Actually, Tang's friend is cheating on his girlfriend with the model who it turns out is also the roommate of Tang's love interest.

This triangle resolves itself and the two lovers enjoy the beach, a trip out to the boat where the girl's grandmother lives,etc. Soon another triangle develops when Tang discovers he looks like his girlfriend's former boyfriend. Because Tang believes she doesn't really love him for himself, he returns to Taiwan.

The girlfriend follows Tang back to Taiwan and they are very happy together. They talk about marriage and a future together. The girlfriend becomes ill and returns to Hong Kong to find out what is wrong.

WARNING CONCLUSION: When Tang doesn't hear from her, he follows her back to Hong Kong. There he discovers that she has left her teaching job because of illness and is on the boat with her grandmother. Tang goes to her and asks her to marry him. She tells him she has anemia and the doctor has told her to rest.

The grandmother tells Tang that his lover will die soon. In spite of this, Tang marries her anyway. There is a beautiful wedding which takes on a boat among all the boat people. This is very interesting and great fun to watch. The girlfriend is beautiful in her red silk wedding dress and very happy. Tang loves her dearly but loses her almost immediately after the wedding takes place. In this sad role, Alan Tang shows some of his finest emotional acting, as can be seen in the pictures.