Hong Kong Cinemagic
Version française English version
 Capsule Reviews   English Board   Facebook  
 People
 Movies
 Movie Studios
 Glossary
 Your Settings

HKCine Search
Switch to Google Search
>> Help

 Film directors
 Actors
 Technicians
 Producers

 Comedy
 Drama & Opera

 Shaw Brothers
 Film Industry
 Cultural & Societal

 DVD Tests
 HK Cinema Books
 Where to buy?

 OST & Music
 PDF & E-books
 VIP Guestbook

 Site Map
 Editos Archives
 Staff
 Site History
 Links
 Visitor guestbook
 Aknowledgement
 HKCinemagic 2

Statistics :
11630 Movies
19215 People
1448 Studios
29 Articles
73 Interviews
12 DVD Reviews
32452 Screenshots
3722 Videos
Capsule Reviews

July Rhapsody    (2002)
This is a nice new feature film from director Ann Hui. She made Visible Secret before, a commercial standard ghost movie. There are obviously contrasts between the two movies. July Rhapsody has well written characters (with solid performances from by Jacky Cheung, Anita Mui and Karena Lam). On top of that, Ann Hui's mise-en-scene is sober, with no excessive camera work or face-paced editing. July Rhapsody deals with a middle age teacher (Jacky Cheung) who starts to wonder about what he's been doing so far in his life and if it actually did worth it. He thinks he falls for one of his students or maybe it's only an excuse to change his everyday life. All is life has been built on lies, hatred and the unsaid. The 17-year old forbidden fruit (Karena Lam) is wicked. She wants to make him fall for her and she's dying to consummate their relationship. The teacher takes the opportunity to gather some courage to change things. Ann Hui only tells a very realistic story with remarkable restraint. July Rhapsody has a bitter taste for the unanswered questions on generation gap it raises and for the portrait of a man retrospectively assessing his own life. The movie is then deeply touching and for this reason it is probably the best drama of 2002, or at least it deserves to be watched by any fans of HK cinema.
Thomas Podvin 1/15/2003 - top

Page Index
 1/15/2003 Thomas Pod...

 Advertise with Google AdSense   Submit a review   Contact   FAQ   Terms of use   Disclaimer   Error Report  
copyright ©1998-2013 hkcinemagic.com