Jiu Qi Zan Ting 九七暂停

Description:

Mr. Ng (Lau Ching-Wan) has applied to emigrate to several countries, only to be rejected by all of them. Rumors about the 1997 issue run wild across the city. Mr. Ng goes to the agency handling his emigration application, only to find it has gone out of business. Back at the office, he is shocked to discover that the company has laid off hundreds of staff: it has been taken over by a state enterprise, and Manager Chan (Michael Tiu) has transferred him to the general affairs department to handle odd jobs — in other words, to force him to resign. His secretary Annie (Hui Siu-Ying) is transferred too, to follow someone said to have been sent down from the mainland with powerful backing. Furious, Mr. Ng storms out, buys a knife from a shop assistant (Cheung Tat-Ming) at a cutlery store, and goes to the launch event for a domestic nuclear power plant's emergency response safety system, where Manager Chan is present, imagining his revenge. But the knife slips and falls into his trouser leg. The revenge fails, and Mr. Ng resigns. His ex-wife Julie (Jacqueline Law) is about to emigrate to Australia with their daughter and has sold off the flat where Mr. Ng is living without his consent. Mr. Ng argues with Julie, and in the struggle he mistakenly believes he has stabbed her to death. Mr. Ng flees, then returns, but Julie is nowhere to be found. He tries to hang himself, but the rope snaps — what a truly terrible day! On television, a mainland qigong master demonstrates supernatural powers, and Mr. Ng trains relentlessly, hoping to use such powers to make everything stop. Mr. Ng's world comes to a halt, while the world outside moves on as usual, and 1997 arrives in the blink of an eye.