An autumn’s Tale

Movie Info:
Director: Mabel Cheung
Cast: Chow Yun-Fat, Cherie Chung, Danny Chan, Brenda Lo Yip Mei
Original Title: Chau tin dik tung wa (Lau man daai hong)
Production Country: China/Hong Kong 1987
Review:
One of HK's classics, this romantic drama set in New York features a terrific pairing between Chow Yun-Fat and Cherie Chung. She's Jenny, a college student who travels from Hong Kong to New York to reunite with boyfriend Danny Chan. However, things aren't what she expects, because Danny's been playing the field in her absence. Luckily, Jenny has her distant cousin (Chow Yun-Fat) to help her, but the two are decidedly different souls. He immediately takes a shine to her, but she's slow on the uptake. And besides, how can two incredibly mismatched people ever be together?
Plot and story are not the emphasis of Mabel Cheung's film. Though there's the obligatory set-up, the path the film follows rests entirely upon the development and growth of its principal characters. Chow Yun-Fat plays your typical Chinatown HK immigrant, who gambles and talks bigger than he delivers. When he finds Jenny, he decides he wants to become a better person to earn her affections. His effort is understandable, as Jenny is portrayed by Cherie Chung, who turns in a subtle, charming performance. Jenny must grow as well, though her goals are different from her cousin's. She simply would like to become a woman, and that journey may or may not mean romance for her.
The obstacles for the would-be lovers are largely free of your standard movie-like plot devices. As such, the relationship develops naturally and not through some forced set of circumstances. In contrast to the verbalized epiphanies and soap-opera plotting of most romances, the tone here is incredibly serene, and even deceptively languid. Awkward silences, silent pining and misdirected intentions are the language that Mabel Cheung and scriptwriter Alex Law use, and in the hands of such actors as Chow Yun-Fat and Cherie Chung, the results are incredibly engaging. Though the two are major stars, the film doesn't make them star-crossed. Their chemistry feels pleasing and real, and not a byproduct of their status as the two prettiest people onscreen.
Ultimately, the two characters find some resolution to their issues, and the results are neither unexpected nor wholly predictable. The results simply feel natural, and the quiet humanity with which the characters are portrayed makes them extremely sympathetic. Mabel Cheung's suitably understated direction brings the perfect touch to the proceedings, and Alex Law's script is remarkably sensitive. Nothing truly earth-shattering occurs here, and the love that grows isn't a world-beating, destiny-fulfilling match made in heaven. However, thanks to likable, identifiable characters and perfect lead performances, An Autumn's Tale is a Hong Kong romance that's nearly matchless.
LANGUAGE: chinese
SUBTITLE: English (available with nero showtime)
DVD-RiP
avi
ca. 98 min
1220 mb

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