Out of This World: Page 16 holds her, both of them still and silent. Maybe it is her own fault that she is losing him, she think. What can she offer besides a good lay now and then, and endless trouble, the pressure of pro-viding for two people? It would be easier if she was just someone else, someone who would remember everything that happened up to now, but gifted with different circumstances, different abilities, myriad ways to show appreciation. Disappearances: Absence and presence are constantly at war. Miho is in San Francisco, and then in Hong Kong-wherever she is not, she is missed. Cheng awaits Gun Duk in that decrepit apartment, and finally, one night, she waits and he does not come, for he is dead. Likewise, one night at three o'clock, Paul does not receive a call from Halley. She has left the country. He traces her to Hong Kong, and it is discovered that she saw Miho there briefly. What trans- pired there, no one can say, at least not imme-diately, but shortly afterwards, she vanished completely. All that remains is a videotape. The central mystery of the film is now in play. Paul must go to Hong Kong, even if it means shirking responsibilities. He must know what happened. Cheng must know about Miho, even after Gun Duk's death. Will the two of them meet through Miho? What will they say when they see the mir-ror image of their missing loved ones? Miho: She finds San Francisco to be a fearsome place, with all these smiling people, all their loud talk, all the adroit avoidance of commitment. Appointments are hinted at, vague promises made, and nothing happens. As she takes lengthy walks down the deserted avenues, it seems to her that this place is the beginning of a city rather than the real thing. Turn a corner, and the thriving traffic and bodies, the lively rot and