Neon Goddesses (1996)

Original title: 美丽的魂魄

A slice-of-life documentary about three girls who have migrated to Beijing to try their luck and earn some money

Three provincial girls debark in Peking. Each seeks success in the capital. Yù Quin, with a degree in the lyric arts, sets out from her native village, leaving her two year old daughter behind. She works as a bar hostess in a night-club frequented by the Nomenklatura and the nouveaux riches, but retains a nostalgia for her past. Hù Jin, following her intuition, deserts her studies to seek her fortune in the labyrinthine city. Bit part player and model in Peking’s studios, her search is sown with misadventure. After several suicide attempts, Zun Ji, a repentant junkie, become a dancing queen in Peking’s discotheques? Rebellious and devil may care, she dances to celebrate the wee hours of the centuries old city and forget her heavy past. Under the harsh lights of the gaudy neons and through the sketches of their daily marginality, hopes are tainted with mockery.