Farewell China (1990) User Reviews

No Propaganda, Certainly NO Tearjerker Or Soap; Just A Brilliant Film...

[wobelix · 9/10 · 3 February 2005]

Any film with Maggie Cheung, the superb actress who has a depth and scope comparable with the incomparable Anna Magnani & Romy Schneider, is very well worth watching.

This film, although viewed on a terrible Full Screen DVD edition with an awful haze over the picture, is worth every minute of your time !!

The film kicks of with a feverish scene in China, and ends in Heaven, which has all the elements of the deepest pits of Hell... All this we can see all too clearly on the face of Li Hung. Portrayed of course by Miss Cheung.

Not that Tony Leung isn't worth mentioning here; far from it ! Starting out as a naive Orpheus searching high and low for his Euridice, he is afflicted by the filth of down town Big Apple. He portrays the searching husband beautifully.

Also the horrible teen with a heart, Hayley Man, delivers a fine performance. And even the baby boy has some glorious acting moments caught on film !

A thrilling and sometimes very chilling drama; watching this film is a magnetizing experience ! Thank you Clara Law; that you'd wish and find ways to give us many more of your wonderful films !!

some thoughts on a good film, sans spoilers

[ehre · 3 September 2001]

It's a good film, and I think it captures a certain angle of the present-day Chinese imigrant story, much more so than the almost "faery tale" "An Autumn's Tale." Set mainly in NYC's Chinatown, "Farewell China" is a real tear-jerker. If you don't like or aren't in the mood for movies which can be as frustrating, agonizing, and heartbreaking as real life often is, particularly when it comes to imigrants, this isn't for you.

The plot involves a married couple who leave their son behind in the care of grandparents while they emigrate to the U.S. from China separately, first the wife, then the husband (rather atypical, I believe). For every imigrant success story lauded in the media, there are almost certainly scores more who never "make it." Indeed, this film subtly questions the price of "success." Also touched upon, though handled perhaps a bit ham-fistedly, I think, are issues of identity.

As usual, Maggie Cheung is absolutely wonderful, and as sweet as she plays her character, I think most people will be shocked by how changed the wife becomes at the end. It's really scary (at the risk of appearing tangential with such a comparison, I must note that I don't think I've felt as chilled to my very soul by a plot twist since "Rosemary's Baby" -- then again, I'm not the most alert moviegoer). Tony Leung also turns in the expected great performance as the innocent, then disillusioned, then tragic father. Though sometimes flawed, this film really arouses one's horror and pity.

Please see this movie, especially if you're a Chinese-American kid with an identity crisis! (See it, and I'm sure you'll know what I mean!)

One more note: the depiction of inner-city non-Chinese minority crime is handled much more sympathetically here than in movies like the aforementioned "Autumn's Tale" and "Comrades, Almost a Love Story" (both also deserving of a screening, especially the great and sure-to-be-classic "Comrades") -- not that I think those portrayals were inaccurate; I've lived in NYC 20+ years, I should know.... Unfortunately, said "sympathetic" (and, more accurately, empathetic) depiction is, in keeping with some other "issues" raised if not exactly explored in this movie, done a bit ham-fistedly or heavy-handedly, almost in that "Schindler's List"/"Saving Private Ryan" or Steven Spielberg way of being "preachy." Thankfully, IMHO, this scene lasts just a couple or so minutes.

Anyway, Clara Law is an interesting HK filmmaker and this is one of her best ones. I hope it comes to DVD soon. This film, like "Comrades," is a very Chinese film. If you're interested in Chinese culture, you can get a good sense of it in these films.

a great performance by maggie cheung&well-directed

[jbgrelber · 9/10 · 15 March 2006]

The only reason not to give this a 10 is that is only available on a substandard DVD,but the acting by Maggie Cheung is at the top of her game,which means the best.I think she is the most versatile and complete actress working today.Considering that Clara Law has worked in Hong Kong and Australia for the most part I am amazed that she got the locations she did in New York instead of the "usual"places.The scene out along the "N" Line in Brooklyn was really off the beaten path-I grew up in Brooklyn and you almost never see that part of the city even with an American director.The story and supporting cast were also very strong and the treatment of the illegal immigrant experience was well done.As a former INS agent I can attest to that.One scene at the beginning where Maggie Cheung tells a story with only her expression and no dialog is great.Now if there could only be a good cleaned up copy it would be a solid 10.I've seen Maggie Cheung in mediocre and even bad films,but I never saw her give a bad performance.