This Movie is Fun and pretty Scary. this movie is modern ghost story. but this movie haven't action much as "Sinnui yauman". but pretty romantic! and actress is beautiful. well.... not much Joey Wong. Whatever this movie is good. I like this movie's Style! Ringo Ram! he made this movie very well!
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actiontdolbin12 January 2002
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mjarvis027 April 2006I came across this movie at least 12 years ago when a TV station was showing a number of Chinese movies. And to say that I remember this film at least 12 years on is saying something. This film concerns the death of a young woman in somewhat bizarre circumstances. Her young sibling is left behind and an insurance agent is dispatched in order to investigate the death with the brief being that he must report her death as suicide in order for the insurance firm to avoid paying out.
This young lady is now a ghost who is only visible to the insurance agent and they fall in love. What happens next are comic moments but then the film takes a serious turn as the family of the insurance agent recognise that there is a ghost in his life and hire an exorcist (for want of a better word) to get rid of it/her.
The final scenes of the girl spirit battling the exorcist,finally losing and the insurance agents desperate attempts to accompany her to the spirit realm are really quite moving.
The song at the end is sang by the lead actor and this was moving too although I did not know what he was saying. It just goes to prove that music is the language of love.
Every now and then I scan the TV guide to see if this film is coming on again and as I write this I am thinking that I will try ebay to see if I can get a hold of this movie on video or DVD.
This is one of those foreign movies that prove the the US by no means holds a monopoly on good movies. If fact I think Hollywood or the UK would struggle to make an English version of this movie and have it make half the impact of the original. This is a gem of a movie and if it is to be shown on your local TV, record it and watch it. You will not be disappointed. -
I remember having seen the 1983 romantic fantasy "Yam Yeung Choh" (aka "Esprit D'amour") before, probably around the early 2000s, but I didn't recall the story. So as I had the opportunity to revisit it in 2022, of course I opted to do so.
And while "Yam Yeung Choh" is watchable enough for what it is, this is by no means a particularly golden moment in Hong Kong cinema. Writers Raymond Fung, Clifton Ko and Kin Lo managed to churn out a fairly generic supernatural romantic fantasy with this movie, and actually not giving director Ringo Lam a whole lot to work with. So "Yam Yeung Choh" is a movie that has some appeal to fans of the Hong Kong cinema, but not overly much so for a casual viewer unfamiliar with Hong Kong cinema.
For fans of the Hong Kong cinema, then there are a couple of familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Philip Chan and Fui-On Shing as the most noteworthy.
The romance aspect of the movie is fairly weak and doesn't really strike me as being a driving factor for the narrative. Nay, "Yam Yeung Choh" is a supernatural fantasy movie first and foremost.
Visually then "Yam Yeung Choh" didn't bedazzle or impress me, but then again the movie is also 39 years old already and haven't aged all that gracefully.
My rating of "Yam Yeung Choh" lands on a four out of ten stars. And this is hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing, and this is not a movie that I will be returning to again in the future. -
lirong2421 April 2006As a teenager, I saw this movie with my girlfriend back in the early 90's at one of those laser-disk places, it was already out a few years by then and was a random choice. Stumbling across this page certainly brings back memories, I recall we both loved the film.In fact my girl was moved to tears after watching it.We broke up not long after that, I moved away to further my studies and lost contact with her. I don't know what became of her. I would love to see the movie again, I'm not sure if it would have the same effect on me. But this film will always have a special place in my heart as a reminder of the happiness of my teenage years and hopefully for my ex-sweetheart somewhere out there too.
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nathanjay15 November 2006I just re-watched this film from an old VHS I recorded off TV back in 1994, and it is as good as I remember. But even now I was hoping the ending would be different and the hero would somehow get the girl - I wish there was an 'alternative ending'!
Although some of the special effects are dated, it doesn't spoil the film which still seems fresh today. And the theme music that constantly pops up throughout the film - from the musical box to the saxophonist in the street, is some of the most touching soundtrack music ever. I would recommend this film to everyone, unfortunately I can't find it for sale on any UK or Chinese websites. There's a few clips on youtube though :) -
wpa_956309 June 2005I loved this movie when I first saw it many, many years ago in the cinema. Maybe it was because I was still a young man back then and still had romantic ideas about love. The movie resonated with me and I loved the story, the acting and the theme song.
I'm not sure how I would feel about the movie if I saw it again today. I guess I would still like it but the impact would be less powerful. Ahh...to be able to go back in time and relive that moment.
From what I can remember, the movie had a very timeless feel to it, you know, like Casablanca. It is a love story but the fact that it did not end happily ever after only enhanced my enjoyment of it. It is not cheesy, loud or over the top, the way most Hong Kong movies are today. I hope you will enjoy this as much as I did back then. -
morrison-dylan-fan13 February 2019Mesmerised from seeing the curtain come down on the Heroic Bloodshed sub-genre with Full Contact (1992-also reviewed) I decided to take a closer look at the credits from auteur film maker Ringo Lam. Standing shoulder to shoulder with John Woo as the two leaders of the sub-genre,I was surprised to find that his debut (which despite the title,is not French!) was tough to track down. Trying to gathering as many of his flicks as possible,I was thrilled to stumble upon his debut online, which led to me seeing the beginnings of Ringo Lam.
View on the film:
Getting his chance after original director Po-Chih Leong had shot around one-third of the film before a falling out led to producer Karl Maka sacking him, directing auteur Ringo Lam (and 7 cinematographers!) makes full contact with a debut that ties the different footage he and Leong shot smoothly together, and brings his distinctive style flying into view. Making his lone dip into Fantasy,Lam loads the ultra-stylisation of his "Action" works into long downward tracking shots following Siu-Yu to the ground and slick stop/start panning shots following Siu-Yu's ghostly appearances.
Made during the 4 film phase of "Comedy" titles before he got on the path to Heroic Bloodshed (HB) with the Action movie Mad Mission 4: You Never Die Twice (1986), Lam impressively slots the laughs into fitting with a major theme across his credits of unbreakable doomed love, via startling smoke and blue tint waves splashing across the screen during the couples final brief encounter, with Lam darting the camera to smashed corners of the flat in frantic mood similar to the style of his later HB set-pieces. Displaying little sign of the production issues on screen, the screenplay by Raymond Fung/ Clifton Ko/Kin Lo and Raymond Bak-Ming Wong (who got the idea when he saw a picture of a pretty girl on a tombstone!) sparkles with hilarious fast-paced dialogue exchanges conjured from Siu-Yu's ghostly skill to control what people say.
Whilst hitting a tragic note for the final, the writers bring a warmth to the unlikely romance between Siu-Yu and Chi-Ming by keeping the romance delightfully sweet-natured, blossoming in back and fourths between the couple over Siu-Yu's mischief landing Chi-Ming in trouble. Getting the role over Maggie Cheung after original director Leong met her at a party, Joyce Ni Shu Chun gives an incredibly expressive turn as Siu-Yu, which whispers a comedic playfulness with a bubbling passion that boils over. Almost (accidentally) killing his future love in the opening, Alan Tam gives an excellent performance as Chi-Ming, whose funny awkwardness is pinned by Tam with a sincerity for the spirit of love.