Chinese Box (1997)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Wayne Wang

Writers:

Jean-Claude Carrière (screenplay)
Jean-Claude Carrière (story)

Release Date:

17 April 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of China.

Plot Keywords:

Hong Kong | Video | Leukemia | Political | Prostitution

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Jeremy Irons	...	John
Li Gong	...	Vivian
Maggie Cheung	...	Jean
Michael Hui	...	Chang
Rubén Blades	...	Jim
Jared Harris	...	William
Chaplin Chang	...	Homeless Man
Noel Rands	...	John's Friend at New Year's Party
Emma Lucia	...	Amanda Everheart
Ken Bennett	...	Rick
Russell Cawthorne	...	New Year's Party MC
Emotion Cheung	...	William Wong
Harvey Stockwin	...	Weeks
Jonathan Midgley	...	Jonathan
Bruce Walker	...	Bruce

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

France | Japan | USA

Language:

English | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | USA:R | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:R(A)

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Canal+

Quotes:

John: Just a week ago all I wanted was to tell Vivian how much I loved her. But now I see that's the one thing I mustn't do. I can't offload my illness onto her, or Jim, or Mary and the kids. I don't want the look in their eyes to remind me I'm dying. I wonder if I can hold out longer than the British. Not that I could be described as an empire.

Movie Connections:

References Chung Hing sam lam (1994)

Interesting but not compelling

I understand what they were going for with this, but somehow it failed to move me very much. The artfulness is enjoyable, but for some reason, perhaps the acting or the perennially bouncing camera, I never was released into flowing with the movie. Instead, it felt like acting, and thus I couldn't help but feel a manipulated instead of moved.

It's a nice try, however. Irons is fun to watch, if not as well done as in others. Gong Li is more enjoyable on her deeper roles (such as Temptress Moon and Raise the Red Lantern), as opposed to the shallow one turned in here, due to playing a shallow character (as with Shanghai Triad), or one which does not seem to break out into the foreground, perhaps compounded by being clumsily mashed into an English-speaking role. She didn't look comfortable the entire film. No one did, ever. Perhaps that itself is a facet of Hong Kong, and an effect that I failed to catch.

Then again, truly moving art films are hard to make. While it didn't score anywhere near off the charts with me, like the far more graceful Temptress Moon, it was still much enjoyed over the usual local (Hollywood) fare.