The Shanghai Film Studio production is about an older woman, Laolao, from a village in northeastern China, who goes to the United States to visit her daughter. She meets her daughter's equally mature neighbor Frank at the airport. They develop a subtle love amid many misunderstandings due to the language barrier.

The topic of love between older people seldom features in Chinese movies. A majority of Shanghai movie critics hailed Hi, Frank as China's equivalent to the Oscar-winning The Bridges of Madison County, about an Iowa farmer's wife's affair with a wandering National Geographic photographer.

Critics are also comparing it with The Gua Sha Treatment, a Chinese film about a Chinese father taken to court in the United States for treating his child with the traditional Chinese skin scraping therapy for fever and other ailments.

However, director Huang Shuqin said what she wanted to express was not a cultural clash. "Communication among people is more important. I want to show that individuals on an equal footing can overcome all barriers," she said.

In the film, Laolao's daughter and son-in-law are typical middle-class Americans who suffer from high-pressure work and a marriage under pressure. Her grandchildren Haihai and Chenchen are of the Chinese-cum-western "banana generation" raised in the United States. In the end their attitude toward Laolao changes.

"It's all about communication. Everyone becomes more understanding and mature," said Huang, acclaimed as one of China?s few top woman directors.

Sources with the Shanghai Film Studio said it intended to seek overseas release for the film.

(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2002)