"The Green Hat" is basically an insult to a man in China to say that his wife/partner is/has been unfaithful to him and he's pretty much accepted the situation, it is an expression rather than an actual item just as the expression "cuckold" is used in the West.

The interconnecting part of this film is that the major male character in each is wearing the metaphorical "Green Hat", the first finding 
out that his girlfriend who has been in college in the US for 2 years has found somebody else. The fact that he finds out after he has committed a robbery to be able to afford to fly out and visit her doesn't exactly help and sends him over the edge.

The second, a detective connects with the first for a few minutes before we follow his "Green Hat" situation, he is unable to achieve an erection and his wife has taken a lover. We follow along as he tries various treatments for his problem and also tries to warn off his wifes lover.

The resolution to this part is not what I would have expected but is certainly more probable than the typical "happy" ending we're usually fed.

I enjoyed the film, the first section taking up around a third of the running time ran at a fairly brisk pace whereas the second section seemed stretched out (maybe a bit too much) and the pacing was much slower.

Overall a rewarding experience and I was thankful to see a film which is very unlikely to get any sort of widespread distribution. Seen at the Cardiff International Film Festival Oct 2004.

Cheers Trev.