Isabella by Edmond Pang Ho Cheung (2006)
25 April 2007Wow, I have had this film for a while, and just finally watched it. This is a gorgeous and well done intimate Hong Kong art film with 2 top notch performances. Honestly this is not only one of the best Hong Kong films I have seen in some time, but it is actually one of the best films I have seen in some time. This film is completely about these 2 characters and their relationship, and perfectly plays with time, giving you fragments of scenes, that are later played out in full as you, along with the characters learn more of what is going on. And this is a story of redemption, of a man willing to finally make amends for his actions for the past and do better than he has ever done. What a wonderful little film.
Chapman To Man Chat plays Inspector Ma Shing, a corrupt and womanizing cop in Macau. In the opening of the film we see flashes of him, hitting on the young girl Cheung Buk Yan (Isabella Leong) who he claims has eyes like his first girlfriend. We see him sleeping with her as a prostitute. We see her following him, and finally hitting a bottle over his head. And it is at the hospital we learn that the young girl is in fact his daughter…
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Isabella Region 1 DVD at Five Star Laser
At first Yan just wants money from Shing, and he gives her money, but she shows up again, and needs money again. He is angered, but it turns out she needs money because she is 3 months late on rent, and can’t get any of her stuff, including her dog Isabella that her mom gave her. The name Isabella being the name her mother use to use when Shing knew her. And we learn that he did not actually sleep with her, but with another girl, and she snuck in as the other girl left the apartment, though it was her he was hitting on at the club a year before.
Shing goes with her to the landlord, but the landlord has already gotten rid of the dog, so he helps her to look for it, and put up signs, and allows her to move in and stay on his couch, though it does not stop from him still having all his whore’s over for sex.
Shing meanwhile has talked to a friend of his (Anthony Wong Chau Sang) to try and get a gun. See it is 1999 and near the handover of Macau to China, and they are cracking down on corrupt cops. Well it seems one cop has turned on Shing and he is being to be the scapegoat, so he wants a gun to kill him, or he has to run.
Slowly Shing and Yan get closer together, with him being a completely irresponsible dad, teacher her how to properly break bottles and not hurt her hand. To get drunk, and smoke. Though he does teach her to ride a scooter and get her one. Finally he decides to run with her to Thailand to get away, but he realizes he can’t do it, and he decides to go turn himself in, and get off after 2 years. He sells his gold rolex, and all his money to pay for the apartment for 3 years, so Yan will have a place to stay, and she will be there when he goes out.
Shing gets a call though, and goes to see another friend Wan Yeung Ming), who it turns out is in fact Yan’s daughter. It seems when Shing left Isabella at the hospital to get the abortion, she had run out to not get it and find him, but when she saw he was gone, she did get it and ended up starting to smoke (she died of lung cancer) and went with the friend and got pregnant, but she always considered the kid Shing’s, so Shing stays as her father.
And Yan drives Shing on her scooter to the courthouse, and he cries on her back. And she tells the story of why she is waiting for her man, to the young man who has pursued her.
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A wonderful and beautiful film, with amazing performances. This is a must see!!!
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