after news of the singer's death had broken. It is revealed that the two had sat back to back on their first train ride to Hong Kong. Production The Chinese title of the film, 'Tian Mi Mi', comes from a song of the same name by Teresa Teng, which is famous both in mainland China and among the overseas Chinese community. The movie displays love of the famous singer who died a year before the film was released; the film is considered a love poem in memory of Teresa Teng. Her music is featured prominently throughout the film, and Teresa Teng herself is an important subplot for the movie. Leon Lai sings the title song for the ending credits. In a cameo performance, Christopher Doyle, the internationally known cinematographer famous for his collaboration with Wong Kar-wai, plays an English teacher. Lai was mostly known as a "pop idol" at the time while Cheung was considered an "established character actress", causing some people who knew Chan to doubt their pairing. However, Chan stated that he has originally considered Faye Wong for the role based on her mainland origins, but she turned it down, leading him to cast Cheung instead. Release Comrades: Almost a Love Story was released in Hong Kong on 2 November 1996. The film grossed a total of HK$15,557,580 on its initial theatrical run in Hong Kong. The film was screened theatrically for the first time in nearly a decade at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2012 with a new 35 mm print supervised by director Peter Chan. The film will be shown at the 70th Venice International Film Festival in 2013. Initially the Mainland Chinese government put restrictions on the film, but they were lifted in 2015. As part of the Mainland Chinese release, Luhan recorded a new version of the song "Tian Mi Mi". Hua Hsu of The New Yorker states that the reasons why the film was restricted were "slight, couched in minor differences of speech and habit" and that "even the most ideological viewer would be hard pressed to interpret this as an aggressively political film." Reception The film was very well received in Hong Kong and Taiwan, winning best picture, director, and actress for the Hong Kong Film Awards, among other wins. Maggie Cheung's performance also won general acclaim. The movie was voted #11 of the Greatest Chinese Films of all time