July Rhapsody (2002) User Reviews (7)

Surviving the Hong Kong Lolita

[esteepswong · 6/10 · 19 May 2002]

Jacky Cheung plays Lam Yiu Kwok who is a Hong Kong high school teacher who is facing a mid-life crisis. While he has only is pride and Chinese poetry to fall back on, his peers are successful businessmen and professionals who flaunt their extravagant lifestyles at reunion dinners. After all these years, Lam is still living in a cramped apartment with his wife, Man Ching (Anita Mui) and two teenage sons.

However financial stagnancy is not his only problem. An old flame and ex-teacher of both Man Ching returns to Hong Kong and uncovers old wounds. Man Ching feels obliged to help her ex-lover...

Meanwhile Yiu Kwok faces another dilemma; Choy Lam (Lam Ka Yan) a precocious student, has a crush on him and the 'forbidden fruit' looks more and more tempting in the light of his wife's 'infidelity'. Will he succumb to young charms and let history repeat itself?

July Rhapsody is a touching story about a man for whom honour, truth and fidelity mean a lot. Personally I have only known highly of Jacky Cheung's singing ability and have not thought much of his acting moreover in serious roles as in this movie but after watching him grapple with Lam's problems, I hold him in high regard. Anita Mui is also convincing as a wife caught between the past and present but her role is definitely being over-whelm by Lam Ka Yan who is indeed the show stealer and is so delectable in her Lolita role that she heats up every scene she appears in.

Drama about mid-life crisis often need comedy to spice them up and here in this movie you can find the mixture blend of poetry, passion and pain...

Chinese poetry weaves magic in this mesmerising love triangle

[Chris_Docker · 7/10 · 23 August 2002]

A touching love story reminiscent of ‘In the Mood for Love'. Drawing heavily on Chinese poetry and how this is used by eastern people to communicate feelings to each other, the story focuses on a schoolteacher who wants so much to be a model teacher as well as a good husband and father. A senior student is very attracted to him. As the story unfolds we see the emotions below the surface in his 20 year marriage and how he grapples with the moral dilemmas that face him. A beautiful and moving story.

Takes An Old Premise And Makes It New

[crossbow0106 · 8/10 · 21 September 2008]

This story of a teacher who has a relationship with a student is told in a subtle manner, something which sets it apart from most films with this plot. Mr. Lam (Jacky Cheung) has a relationship with Choy (Karena Lam, who was also so good in "Koma") in what at first appears to be an inexplicable situation. He is married for 20 years to Ching (the great Anita Mui, in her last role before she was cruelly taken from us), and it appears to be a loving relationship. When Ching offers to care for hers and Mr. Lam's former teacher, Choy and Mr. Lam have the opportunity to be together. What makes the film so good is director Ann Hui's pacing. It takes a while to uncover the secrets of the Lamsm and it all makes sense. The movie is very dramatic and touching. You don't feel any repulsion about the teacher/student situation, something that elevates this film above many with the same plot. It is slow moving, but stay with it. Also, revel in Ms. Mui's wonderful, unglamorous but beautiful performance. She was and is someone truly special and in this film you fall in love with her one last time. It is worth the time to witness and just be there with her.

A touching drama

[wonderfulfable · 24 July 2004]

I've known Ann Hui to be a excellent director for drama films. Most of her film subjects have touch matters such as family dysfunction, ethical and moral dilemmas that afflicts individuals. One of her films Song of Exile (Maggie Cheung) deals with the relationship of a Chinese-Japanese daughter and her Japanese mother. The characters in Ann Hui's films are fleshed out in depth making them 3 dimensional to the audiences.

Lam Yiu Kwok (Jacky Cheung) is a Chinese Literature school teacher who is in his mid-40's (hence the Chinese title 'Lam Yan Sei Saap' literally meaning 'Man At 40'). Despite being educated and graduating successfully, he opted to teach literature thinking that he could inspire his students to appreciate the art. His friends from high school have gone on to own successful businesses, rich corporate executives, and even stockbrokers. Somehow Yiu Kwok feels inadequate when he meets them at a reunion dinner.

His wife Lam Man Ching (the late Anita Mui) is a homemaker blessed with two teenage sons; one in university and another a high schooler. She is caring and loving towards her family. She even shares her husband's passion for literature; they sometimes recite verses of poetry. However she hides a buried secret. It became apparent when her old lover returns into her life; the reason for that secret. He on the other hand is suffering from a terminal disease and she wants to help him out by caring for him till he passes on. Man Ching feels that helping him can resolve old wounds or perhaps she felt vindictive and wanted to laugh at his dying body?

Yiu Kwok is furious that the past wounds has come back to haunt him and Man Ching. This is made even worse when she agreed to care for her dying old flame. He lets her to devices and delves deeper into his teaching. This leads to him forming a relationship to a student (devilishly played by Lam Kar Yan). She is a nubile girl who has the hots for her teacher. Yiu Kwok feels objected to the Lolita-esque affair he is having but can temptation overcome his senses? This leads to Yiu Kwok reevaluating his life and noticing how inadequate it is. The final moments of the film seems to have the characters resolving loose threads but it has also created new life paths that may require a painful sacrifice. I can't help but feel for Yiu Kwok, shedding a tear for Man Ching when both husband and wife came to an inevitable conclusion.

The characters in July Rhapsody has such deep depth, that they could just jump out of the screen; the audience can identify with the issues that are afflicting those individuals. All the actors gave a wonderful performance especially the central characters whose stories are tightly interwoven.

I've never seen Jacky Cheung do a better dramatic performance and did well here. Anita Mui has never failed to light up my eyes whenever she comes on screen. Her poetry recital reminds me of one of her film scenes in Rouge where her character Fleur recites love poems. That film itself was one of Anita's best. For her performance in July Rhapsody, the feeling is bitter sweet as not only did she give a memorable performance, it was also the last film that she ever made.Anita passed on in following late 2003 as a result of cervical cancer. Ironically, the film's conclusion although not that tragically sad had me bawling for Anita as the Chinese community and the rest of the world can never see such an actress like her again.

No doubt the poet Li Bai would be proud!

[ETCmodel02 · 9/10 · 22 October 2002]

Excellent introspective / interpersonal piece that really had some teeth to it without feeling hopeless or worse, manipulative & artificially gratifying. Might be a good double feature with American Beauty as well. Best performance to date that I've seen from Anita Mui, and every actor in this seems like a powerhouse. Hats off to Ann Hui for the direction and Ivy Ho for the brilliant script. Seriously one of the best dramas I've seen in a while, especially if you have a taste for classical literature ALA poetry. Again, excellent.

Should Be Required Viewing

[Xiayu · 9/10 · 3 June 2006]

A rich experience is to be gained from watching this film.

This is a seemingly simple story of a gifted pupil, Yiu Kwok, who later becomes a teacher of classical Chinese poetry. He is married with two sons, and things at home seem normal. He still loves his wife after twenty years of marriage, and his sons alternately fill him with pride (the elder one) and disappointment (the younger one).

His passion for the poetry makes him an object of infatuation for a senior student in one of his classes. The student, Choi Lam, draws pictures of him during class, significantly, one of him with a flower coming from his mouth. She teases him more with her intelligence than her sexuality, although that too is an element. He of course is not immune to her attention, though he tries for a while to keep the demarcation line between teacher and student in place.

The reason why he doesn't succeed in the end is complicated. Firstly there is a real depth to the communication between him and Choi Lam. It becomes clear that she genuinely likes him, and it's mutual. Secondly, there is a long-standing problem in his marriage that is brought to light when an old friend of both his and his wife becomes ill. The consequences of the wife's involvement with this friend, both past and present, are almost too sad to bear.

Nothing is treated trivially in this film. All the characters have a vivid internal life, and an easily discernible history. The two leads, Jacky Cheung and Anita Mui, are outstanding, as are Karena Lam as the student Choi Lam, and Shaun Tam as the elder son On Yin.

Recommended without reservation.

Odd

[kristenal17 · 8 July 2004]

This is an odd little film that has depicted ordinary life empathetically. The plot is very weird, it like a story within a story and these stories are parallel.

I like how the movie is presented, it is on a realistic basis, in a realistic city like Hong Kong but the storyline is almost surreal. Applause for the actors and the portrayal of their roles. Everyone has acted their role so strongly and their acting is harmonically woven into a movie.

I was captured by the movie and the title. I thought they are odd which makes the ordinary lives of its characters to be abstract. Thus making reality abstract.