Michael (Louis Koo) may be Hong Kong's biggest movie star, but his equally famous fiancée is tired of living in the limelight. After she leaves him to live anonymously with her first love, an unglamorous coal miner, Michael finds himself repeatedly at the bottom of a bottle. Crushed, he drunkenly sleepwalks his way to Deep Woods Hotel, a quiet resort in Yunnan province. In fact, he's entered Shangri-La, a mythical Himalayan location bordered by mountains and thick forests, whose isolation and clean air suit his grieving process. The hotel's proprietress, Sue (Sammi Cheng), becomes a part of that process while dealing with her own loss. Seven years prior, Sue's husband Tian disappeared into the woods. She's so reluctant to move forward with life that she initially keeps one fact very close to her chest: she happens to be number “033" in Michael's fan club. Although it has a surprisingly meta-ending, a simple score and wide-angle shots of the rural utopia anchor director Johnnie To's high-concept romance. Both leads are legitimate superstars; Koo is one of Hong Kong's most beloved actors and Cheng is known as the “Cantopop Queen," with more than 80 albums spanning a 20-year-career.
