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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Overcomes its flaws..., 22 April 2009

Author: ky_chong

"Eighteen Springs" is an adaptation of an Eileen Chang novel of the same name, and is the second Eileen Chang film Ann Hui made (the first was "Love in a Fallen City", in 1984). For those who do not know who Eileen Chang is, she is now esteemed as the greatest female Chinese-language writer of the twentieth century. For some of her fans, she is simply the greatest Chinese novelist of the century, bar none.

"Eighteen Springs", made in 1997, boasts a stellar cast from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China - Wu Chien-Lien takes centerstage with perhaps her finest role of her career, and she is luminous throughout, especially in the earlier parts of the film. (It was a travesty of justice that Maggie Cheung - great actress though she is - won the HK Academy Best Actress Award for "The Soong Sisters". Wu's performance is incomparably more nuanced.) Ge You and Huang Lei, from Mainland China, are both superb, while Anita Mui and Leon Lai are generally a match for their Mainland counterparts.

Under Ann Hui's patient and involving direction, everything unfolds with a rarefied beauty and intensity. Set in Shanghai and Nanjing, "Eighteen Springs" is one of the few films that gives you the feeling of falling in love - albeit in the Eastern (restrained) kind of way. You can feel the care and warmth permeating through every frame, as Manzhen's and Shijun's love unfolds. However, as in almost all Eileen Chang's novels, the story turns tragically. Sadly, the melodramatic pivot, coming in the last 30 minutes of the movie, makes Ge You and Anita Mui no more than a stock villain and villainess, and the story becomes much more predictable after this. Perhaps Ann Hui can handle that particular scene better. But the film ends strongly, with the poignant re-meeting of the couple 14 years later.

This is probably a minor gripe, considering Hong Kong cinema generally doesn't do adaptations very well. But Ann Hui's "Eighteen Springs" is certainly one of her finest films. I'm too much under the magic of the movie and Eileen Chang's story to be bothered. The only other quibble is that the budget is pretty tight for this movie and as such the sets and costumes are not as sumptuous as some, but really, you can't win every time.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Story of doomed love, subtly told, 10 May 1999
Author: anonymous from London, England

I had heard this film described as a 'Chinese Gone With the Wind' and saw it as part of a 'Hong Kong Melodrama' season. Both these labels do the film an injustice, since it is quite an intimate character study and not just a sweeping epic. Lamentably, the film will probably only have this limited release in the UK.

Firstly, just a quibble: although my Cantonese is minimal, isn't this film mostly in Mandarin? Also, the subtitles were terrible in terms of spelling and grammar, making some scenes a bit difficult to follow and others unintentionally hilarious. Is there no way of getting these subbed before export of the prints?

The story, essentially the problems that beset a young couple in Shanghai in the Thirties, is told without recourse to cliched situations and dialogue and the cinematography is beautiful. I did wonder about the heroine's modern look, but this was a minor consideration. The atmosphere of the lives of working people in what was the most modern city in China is successfully captured and the niceties of Chinese culture thoughtfully portrayed.

This is definitely not an action film, even in terms of a backdrop of dramatic battle / war scenes. Fans of Zhang Yimou will enjoy the stately pace of the narrative, which conveys something of the inevitability of the fate of the main characters. The music, too, is haunting, and not intrusive. Definitely worth considering if you want to lose yourself in an elegaic film about the subtleties of a relationship conducted in a world of cruel financial and moral realities.

Very good though not great drama, 5 April 2004

Author: arnold2ice from Victoria, Canada

A local television station shows a Chinese movie every week which is how I saw it. This screening was in Cantonese with english subtitles. Keep in mind that movies in Hong Kong and China are often available in several dialects so the comments that this movie is in Mandarin is not strictly correct.

As someone else described this is an intimate gentle drama. It is not a "great" movie but it is certainly well above average. The acting is competent as is the direction. Some may find the pacing slow but I prefer to think of it as patient. I certainly felt drawn to the characters although that may be because of my Chinese heritage. I think that my have helped me accept some of what was going on in the movie.

I would watch the movie again and recommend it to anyone who appreciates patient quiet dramas.

1 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Good story spoiled by bad production, 28 November 2003

Author: zzmale

Joint production by Hong Kong and China, which spelled the doom of the film. Famous actors such as You Ge from mainland China, where the film was shot, and produced, for the sake of cost reduction. However, as other mentioned, the Chinese standard of production is not up to the standard and thus ruined a good script and cast.

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