cityonfire.com | City of Glass

	City of Glass "Watch it with someone you love." - Mighty Peking Man City of Glass (1998) Director: Mabel Cheung Yuen-Ting Producer: Alex Law Writer: Alex Law Cast: Leon Lai Ming, Shu Qi (Hsu Chi), Nicola Cheung Sam-Yuet, Daniel Wu Yin-Cho, Vincent Kok Tak Chiu, Chan Yik Shun, Yam Biu Lam, Elaine Gam Yin Ling, Joe Cheung Tung-Cho Running Time: 111 min. Plot: Raphael and Vivian, secret lovers who met at Hong Kong University in the late 60's. However, they were eventually separated. When they met again in the turbulent 90's, they were painfully torn between love and reality. Their respective children, David and Suzie, in search of their parents' past, pick up piece by piece. Availability: This title is available at HKflix.com Reviews MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S REVIEW: Leon Lai Ling and Shu Qi star in this ambitious love story from director Cheung Yuen-Ting. "City of Glass" is set in flashback form and aided by a mini-subplot involving Daniel Wu and Nicola Cheung. Spawning in nearly 4 decades, "City of Glass" tells the tale of Raphael and Vivian, college sweethearts who fell deeply in love in a time when youth mattered: the late 1960's. However, their true love comes to an end when their career-driven minds and political boundaries force them to separate and grow away from each other. They unintentionally meet again in the 1990's. Now, they both have successful careers and more importantly - husbands, wives and children of their own. From this point on comes re-discovered love, that leads to extra marital affairs and abruptly ends with tragedy. Sadly, all this is learned at beginning of the film so don't kill me thinking I spoiled the plot for you. "City of Glass" is beautifully executed and does well at serving the viewers with the feeling of missed memories. The beautiful Shu Qi gives the performance of her career as far as I'm concerned. Leon Lai is just as effective, although, it's hard to tell his performance apart since he's been in about 50 or so romantic movies. I particularly enjoyed the college scenes which were the most touching moments of the story. The outstanding soundtrack plays a significant role which consists of recognizable classics such as "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and it's main love theme "Try To Remember" which is played several times in the movie. "City of Glass" suffers from it's odd pacing.Every time the film switched from it's flash back to current plot I felt annoyed instead of interested. The mini-subplot involving Daniel Wu and Nicola Cheung, who play the respective children of Raphael and Vivian, is sometimes corny if not totally silly. I think "City of Glass" would of been more of a solid film without it, but unfortunately, it's the link that supports the story. Watch it with someone you love. And, look out for the Nora Miao (Bruce Lee's co-star) cameo. Well, sort of a cameo I guess. "City of Glass" can be purchased at HKflix.com MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S RATING: 7.5/10

City of Glass

"Watch it with someone you love."

- Mighty Peking Man

City of Glass (1998)

Director: Mabel Cheung Yuen-Ting

Producer: Alex Law

Writer: Alex Law

Cast: Leon Lai Ming, Shu Qi (Hsu Chi), Nicola Cheung Sam-Yuet, Daniel Wu Yin-Cho, Vincent Kok Tak Chiu, Chan Yik Shun, Yam Biu Lam, Elaine Gam Yin Ling, Joe Cheung Tung-Cho

Running Time: 111 min.

Plot: Raphael and Vivian, secret lovers who met at Hong Kong University in the late 60's. However, they were eventually separated. When they met again in the turbulent 90's, they were painfully torn between love and reality. Their respective children, David and Suzie, in search of their parents' past, pick up piece by piece.

Availability: This title is available at HKflix.com

Reviews

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S REVIEW: Leon Lai Ling and Shu Qi star in this ambitious love story from director Cheung Yuen-Ting. "City of Glass" is set in flashback form and aided by a mini-subplot involving Daniel Wu and Nicola Cheung. Spawning in nearly 4 decades, "City of Glass" tells the tale of Raphael and Vivian, college sweethearts who fell deeply in love in a time when youth mattered: the late 1960's. However, their true love comes to an end when their career-driven minds and political boundaries force them to separate and grow away from each other. They unintentionally meet again in the 1990's. Now, they both have successful careers and more importantly - husbands, wives and children of their own. From this point on comes re-discovered love, that leads to extra marital affairs and abruptly ends with tragedy. Sadly, all this is learned at beginning of the film so don't kill me thinking I spoiled the plot for you.

"City of Glass" is beautifully executed and does well at serving the viewers with the feeling of missed memories. The beautiful Shu Qi gives the performance of her career as far as I'm concerned. Leon Lai is just as effective, although, it's hard to tell his performance apart since he's been in about 50 or so romantic movies. I particularly enjoyed the college scenes which were the most touching moments of the story. The outstanding soundtrack plays a significant role which consists of recognizable classics such as "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and it's main love theme "Try To Remember" which is played several times in the movie.

"City of Glass" suffers from it's odd pacing.Every time the film switched from it's flash back to current plot I felt annoyed instead of interested. The mini-subplot involving Daniel Wu and Nicola Cheung, who play the respective children of Raphael and Vivian, is sometimes corny if not totally silly. I think "City of Glass" would of been more of a solid film without it, but unfortunately, it's the link that supports the story. Watch it with someone you love. And, look out for the Nora Miao (Bruce Lee's co-star) cameo. Well, sort of a cameo I guess.

"City of Glass" can be purchased at HKflix.com

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S RATING: 7.5/10