July Rhapsody
| July Rhapsody 男人四十 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Ann Hui |
| Produced by |
Derek Yee Ann Hui |
| Written by | Ivy Ho |
| Starring |
Jacky Cheung Anita Mui Kar Yan Lam Shaun Tam (譚俊彥) |
| Distributed by | FilmKo Pictures |
| Release dates | 2001 |
| Running time | 103 min. |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese |
July Rhapsody (男人四十, lit. Man Forty) is a 2001 Hong Kong film directed by Ann Hui. The film follows Lam Yiu-Kwok (played by Jacky Cheung), a Hong Kong secondary school teacher, and explores his struggles with midlife crisis, marriage and seduction by a female adolescent student. This was Anita Mui's final film appearance before her death from cervical cancer in 2003.
Cast
- Jacky Cheung - Lam Yiu-Kwok
- Anita Mui - Lam Man-Ching
- Karena Lam - Choy-Lam
- Eric Kot - Wong Yui
- Ku Tin-nung - Yiu-Kwok's old classmate
- Leung Tin - Principal Leung
- Shaun Tam (譚俊彥) - Lam On-yin
- Tou Chung Hua - Mr. Sheng
- Courtney Wu - Father
Plot
Jacky Cheung plays Lam Yiu-Kwok, a Hong Kong secondary school teacher who is facing a mid-life crisis. While he has only his 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 modest apartment with his wife, Man Ching (Anita Mui) and two teenage sons.
However financial stagnancy is not his only problem. An old flame of Man Ching (who was the couple's former schoolteacher) 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 (Karena Lam), a precocious 17 years old student, has a crush on him and the 'forbidden fruit' looks more and more tempting in the light of his wife's 'infidelity'. The two go to Shenzhen, where they celebrate the opening of a friend's nightclub, and spend the night together at a hotel. The movie ends with Lam's return to his wife the following morning.
Awards
Wins
- 2002 Changchun Film Festival: Golden Deer Award - Best Actress - Anita Mui
- 2003 Golden Bauhinia Awards: Best Supporting Actress - Kar Yan Lam
- 2002 Golden Horse Film Festival: Best New Performer - Kar Yan Lam
- 2002 Golden Horse Film Festival: Best Screenplay Originally Written for the Screen - Ivy Ho
- 2002 Golden Horse Film Festival: Best Supporting Actress - Kar Yan Lam
- 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards: Best New Performer - Kar Yan Lam
- 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Screenplay - Ivy Ho
- 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Supporting Actress - Kar Yan Lam
- 2002 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards: Film of Merit
Nominations
- 2002 Golden Horse Film Festival: Best Actress - Anita Mui
- 2002 Golden Horse Film Festival: Best Art Direction - Lim Chung Man
- 2002 Golden Horse Film Festival: Best Costume & Make-up Design - Lim Chung Man
- 2002 Golden Horse Film Festival: Best Picture
- 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Actor - Jacky Cheung
- 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Actress - Anita Mui
- 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Art Direction - Lim Chung Man
- 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Director - Ann Hui
- 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Picture - Tung-Shing Yee (Executive Producer) & Ann Hui (Executive Producer)
- 2002 Verona Love Screens Film Festival: Best Film - Ann Hui