Feng Xiaogang's latest movie sees the stars of Youth reunite for a bittersweet story about enduring love, loss and isolation overseas set against the stunning backdrop of New Zealand, Xu Fan reports.

When actor Huang Xuan was shooting an advertisement earlier this year, he took a call from director Feng Xiaogang, a man who was once hailed as "China's (Steven) Spielberg" by the American magazine Newsweek.

"Mr Feng asked me if I had time to hear a story," recalls Huang in a recent interview with China Daily ahead of the Beijing premiere of Only Cloud Knows.

Then, over the course of the next 20 minutes, Huang-who starred in Feng's 2017 runaway hit Youth-came to hear about the story of an enduring 36-year-long romance between a couple of close friends of the famous director, Zhang Shu and Luo Yang.

"I met Mr Zhang when I was shooting Youth. But this was the first time to learn about his past and suffering. Feng is such an excellent storyteller that his detailed depictions quickly stirred my emotions and brought a tear to my eye," recalls Huang.

Both natives of the Chinese capital, Feng shared a dormitory with Zhang when they worked together in an art troupe of the People's Liberation Army in the early 1980s.