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情義我心知 (2005)
Moonlight in Tokyo


Reviewed by: j.crawford
Date: 03/13/2008
Summary: entertaining stupidity

The film makers start this project in order to holiday in Tokyo and make a hip, nationalistic statement about the goodness of Hong Kong and the Chinese homeland, post-Handover 1997. An expatriate pimp turns a mildly retarded, though quite handsome Hong Konger he meets by chance in Tokyo's Chinatown into a male prostitute. They have all kinds of adventures and misadventures while becoming the best of buddies [in the best "buddy movie" sense of the phrase]. The performances of the lead actor's manage to make all this stupidity into a rather entertaining movie. If you are not a fan of these two actors, you may want to avoid this one.

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 01/27/2008
Summary: Am i the only one that didnt like it?

At times i found it funny and charming.
It is a original plot and something light hearted but i didnt enjoy this like other people. It feels like nothing much happens and people are just going through the motions. I think also the shocking ending didnt help but i guess they wanted to make the movie a little different.

Not my cup of tea as they say

Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 09/29/2007

Charming story directed with an effective touch of whimsy that blends humour and pathos nicely where there could have just been cheese. Chapman To and Leon Lai both act well here.

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: JohnR
Date: 06/14/2006
Summary: A Blast of Fresh Air

This movie blew me away. I liked everything about it. Leon Lai and Chapman To elevate themselves from Class B to Class A actors here; just terrific performances; I hope they won some awards in recognition. The writing was intelligent, the directing was great, the editing crisp, and even the soundtrack was inspired.

Basic Plot: Leon and Chapman are both Hong Kongers living in Tokyo. Chapman is a street hustler down on his luck who has a big debt with a local gangster and a short payback period. Leon is mildly retarded and living on his own. They bump into each other and team up to earn some money so Chapman can repay his debt to the gangster and the money he’s borrowing from Leon. They do this by turning Leon into a gigalo.

The story is funny, low-keyed, and keeps moving right along. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen come out of Hong Kong recently; it’s the kind of movie Hong Kong movie fans have been mourning the loss of. I can’t compare it to any other movie, as it’s unique, but I think it’s a kindred spirit to films like You Shoot, I Shoot, The Stewardess, and Men Suddenly In Black in that it’s fresh, original, well-done, and unexpected.
Along with The Promise, AV, and Election, this would be in my top 5 for 2005. (I haven’t seen SPL yet, but from word-of-mouth it would probably round out the list).

Highly recommended for those looking for a movie that's intelligent and adult, in the non-Cat III meaning of the word.

Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: evirei
Date: 01/19/2006
Summary: Adding more shines to the moonlight

Moonlight in Tokyo, a storytelling started of by showing Leon’s life. Yeah, he has this slight mental retarded problem. His parents has passed away and he is currently living with his brothers and sisters. His brothers and sisters were constantly arguing and their children were constantly crying because of his behaviour. And thus, the story begins.

It’s quite cool how they related “The Ugly Duckling” story to Leon Lai, since he is obviously the little ugly duckling, because he is different from his other brothers and sisters. Even better, they even related this whole “duckling” thing to the swan ballet dancing.

The movie seriously began when Chapman To was seriously in debt. He actually borrowed 1 million yen to buy some girls over to Japan to work as prostitute. The girls somehow ran away the day they touchdown. With the girl gone and a 1 million yen debt, Chapman has no choice but to be a thief.

So yeah, the world is so small, or maybe Japan isn’t that big after all, Chapman To bump into Leon Lai (who was lost in Japan and is waiting for his brothers to look for him) while he was trying to steal his wallet. Leon caught Chapman trying to steal his wallet in this hilarious way. Chapman manages to free himself from Leon and happily thinks he stole his wallet only to find out it was empty after all. Yup, Leon is stupid but not dumb after all.

Leon then bump into Chapman again when Chapman was being beaten up by his loan sharks. Apparently, Chapman was Leon’s primary school classmate. Leon then helped Chapman a lot that night. Yeah, he did hilarious stuff like singing songs and hugging *the song was simply hilarious* , borrowed Chapman money, send him back to home and paid for the doctor who came over.

Leon then stayed over at Chapman’s place until Chapman have enough money to pay him back. One day, Chapman who constantly felt Leon being annoying and stupid finally notices Leon’s potential. Yup, potential to be Japan’s top gigolo. It is said that everyone who is unhappy will soon be happy when they hugged Leon. *mmm… weird but cool*

The scene where Chapman and Leon were hugging and comparing their “duckies” sizes in the public pool was simply funny . Chapman is soon busy training Leon to be a professional gigolo. As they stayed longer together, Chapman starts to concern more about Leon.

Chapman only then knew that Leon has this habit of throwing everything he has out of the house when he is upset. His brother once thought he wanted to throw her daughter out of the house when Leon tries to carry her. Thus, his brothers abandon him in Japan alone.

The suffering for them is over, Chapman finally became one of the influential people in the triad when his loan sharks was wanted by the police (you seriously gotta watch this part yourself. *roll on the floor laughing*). Just when everything seems like going on fine, Chapman finds out that eventually Leon was not being abandoned. He actually ran away from his family. I ain’t telling a why but I can just say… it wasn’t one of those happy ending you expect from a comedy movie.

Yes, I was rather surprise how this movie was being ended. I was shocked, amazed and speechless when I saw the ending. I was totally amazed when I think back, no one in this movie actually knows what is Chapman’s character name. As far as I can remember, I only hear people calling him “Big Brother” (I'll have to re-watch to confirm this because at the sites he is being noted as HOI).

It’s a seriously out of my expectation type of comedy ending and I felt Leon really did bring to live his character. I think this character fits him perfectly. Being a little bit mentally retarded person suits him as people will tend to notice less of his sorta “wooden” acting skills. I mean, well it’s a good thing.

Reviewer Score: 7