With a few days to go before the release of his latest film The Longest Night in Shanghai, director Zhang Yibai was asked to predict the box office takings. "I really don't know," the director said flippantly, slouching back in his chair. "The more the better, of course."

Zhang was less frivolous though, when he talked about competing with Hollywood films. This summer his film is expected to go up against big budget monsters like Pirates of the Caribbean III and The Transformers.

He believes that cinema-goers should have more choices besides these blockbusters. "Our film takes up just a small portion in the cinemas, but we are pretty confident that it will make people think," Zhang said.

In fact, the director didn't think too much about the market when he started work on his third film. "The process of making the film has been the most relaxing I have ever had," recalled Zhang. "Every part of the production team worked well and I really enjoyed the days of shooting at Shanghai."

A veteran TV and music video director, the 39-year old teamed up with filmmaking groups from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan to bring the story of an encounter between a Japanese hair stylist with a Chinese woman taxi driver in the modern metropolis of Shanghai.

A lost Japanese stylist (Masahiro Motoki) is plagued by doubts about his emotional life, his work and his future. His world changes when he meets an equally troubled female taxi driver Lin Xi (Zhao Wei), one dazzlingly beautiful night in Shanghai.

The characters in the film bypass their language barrier and forge a tender kind of love as they search for their own identities. As well as dealing with the complications of modern love, the film makes full use of the hilarity generated by the language barriers between the two. The Longest Night in Shanghai depicts the relationship that develops between two strangers from a third person perspective.

"There are many things I want to say in the film," said Zhang. "The loneliness of staying at an unfamiliar city, the communication between strangers and also the exploration of selfhood."

Zhang is familiar with telling stories with big city backgrounds, like in his debut movie Spring Subway, set in Beijing, and his second hit Curiosity Kills the Cat, set in Chongqing.

"I was not born in a big city," said he. "I have the experience of leaving my hometown and struggling in a totally strange environment, so I have different feelings and perspectives towards big cities."

In the new film, Zhang set the story in modern Shanghai and the whole story takes place over one night.

"You can see the city Shanghai as another character in the film, which, the same as the two leading roles, has its own expressions," he said. "We captured the sunset, the resting Shanghai and also the early sunrise. The city rises and falls with the emotional changes of the characters. It witnesses their stories."

Zhang was also full of praise for his leading actress Zhao Wei. "I think that is Zhao's best performance," he said.

Zhao described her own role as that of "a sweet heart concealed inside a tough exterior". For her performance in the film, she was awarded the most popular actress at the 14th Beijing Student Film Festival in April.

The director told Zhao to be a "love fool" while acting. "Lots of people criticized her with her shallow acting in previous TV plays and films, but I think her acting is natural and relaxed," he said. Zhao portrays the role as a person not in control of her emotions or career, always wearing wrong buttons, without makeup and secretly admiring an employee in a car repair workshop (played by Dylan Guo). Just to meet her loved one, she often intentionally rams and damages her car, to have an excuse to go to the repair workshop.

"Once I saw the script, I had the feeling that I knew this girl, I knew I can act well, and also had a wide range of expressions," said the actress. She has only one image in the whole movie, without changing attire or hairstyle, but Zhao likes this kind of simplicity. "Communicating mainly by body language is interesting," she said.

To capture the night of Shanghai, the director asked Zhao to drive all night long. All the shooting was carried out in the night, while in the daytime, the team slept.

The actress was impressed with the city's beauty by night. "Shanghai is like a surrealistic animated movie after dark," recalled Zhao. "When I drove on the highway with many buildings one after another passing by, I noticed there were marvelous changes in the colors of the sky; the blue color at the crack of the dawn is very different from the one we usually see."

All the songs played in the film are in English. "You have Chinese, Japanese and English languages in one film. That is unique," Zhang said.

Compared to the darker tones of his previous two films, this one is relaxing and funny. "You can say I made a break-through, but I just want to tell different stories in my films," Zhang said.

The Longest Night in Shanghai will open on June 26 at cinemas citywide.