Chinese Box
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Gong Li, Jeremy Irons, Maggie Cheung, Michael Hui, Rubén BladesBrand: Lions Gate
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: German (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); German (Published)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-09-09
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
Movie Reviews of Chinese Box
Movie Review: A moving portrait of a relationship and a moment in history
Summary: 5 Stars
From the DVD cover: "Jeremy Irons stars as John, a British journalist living in Hong Kong. John has fallen in love with Vivian (Gong Li), a bartender with a jaded past. Vivian is eager to secure her position in Hong Kong society and wants her successful boyfriend Chang to marry her. When Chang proves to be indecisive about their relationship, Vivian turns to John. Giving into their feelings for a brief but passionate affair, they now face inevitable change and unexpected obstacles in this touching and compelling film."
Nothing else I have seen or read captures the poignant and slightly fevered atmosphere of Hong Kong in the months leading up to the 1997 handover. The relationship between John (Irons) and Vivian (Gong Li), and what we learn of Maggie Cheung's character's past relationship (?) with her schooldays English boyfriend, seem to mirror aspects of the political and cultural relationship between the British and Hong Kong Chinese. The ending is deeply moving.
This film is infinitely superior and almost entirely different in terms of plot, and indeed everything else, from Paul Theroux's disappointing novel, Kowloon Tong, that apparently inspired the makers of this film.
Summary of Chinese Box
CHINESE BOX - DVD MovieSet during the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong in 1997, this fascinating film uses that urgent and grandly ceremonial political backdrop for an intimate study of personal transition. Jeremy Irons plays a seasoned journalist who discovers he is terminally ill, causing him to be torn between his obsessive love for a former prostitute (Chinese film star Li Gong) and a streetwise hustler (Maggie Cheung) whom he has chosen as the subject of a video documentary. Through his involvement in the lives of these two very different women, director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club) creates a cinematic "love-hate letter" to his native Hong Kong, where each character is allegorical and suffers an identity crisis much like Hong Kong itself. The film's love story is somewhat aimless and ultimately unimportant, but Chinese Box (even the title suggests a place that holds secrets within its borders) remains a fascinating film in the semi-documentary tradition, capturing the psychology of its time and place with compelling immediacy. Musician/actor/politician Ruben Blades is featured in a memorable supporting role. --Jeff Shannon
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