SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!
SPOILERS AHEAD
Patio of Illusion Plot Summary and Synopsis
It is New Year’s Eve 1999 in Macau. Ho Yi Cheung just graduated from university and is anxious to leave the island to become an art teacher and find himself. Ever since he was young, Yi Cheung has been haunted by a sense of abandonment when his mother left him and his father for Taiwan to work and support the family. However, when Yi Cheung’s lifelong girlfriend Mei tells him that Macau is her home, he reluctantly agrees to stay. Yi Cheung becomes an art teacher in Macau, but his passionate, honest and raw approach to art nearly costs him his job. Feeling discouraged, Yi Cheung vows he wouldn’t repeat his parents’ mistakes and decides that he would make enough money to buy a house for Mei and their growing family. He becomes a croupier at a casino, working such long hours that he neglects his family. It isn’t until Mei takes the kids and leaves that he realizes she never wanted a big house–she wanted the same thing he always wanted: for the family to spend time together. He realizes that his fear of losing Mei and his family has caused him to lose everything. Will getting back into art and unchaining his passion again be enough to show her that he is the person she always thought he was?
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