初一十五 (1986)

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初一十五 (1986)

The Missed Date

Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 06/23/2014
Summary: Pleasant though conservative romantic fantasy

First of all, TMD is a fantasy. Nearly any woman who attracted Chow YF’s attention would leave her husband in a heartbeat, even if he wasn’t a selfish twerp like Philip. This rather undermines the earnest attempt this film makes to sketch mature relationship dilemmas, and makes watching TMD a bit confusing, as it veers from one to the other. From romantic fantasy to adult dilemmas.

Further confusion is provided by some hilariously bad subtitling.
“Haven a pretty girl can’t bewitch you”.
“May, what a coincidence. Are you along ?”
“With crossed arms, I turn my fa”.
“I don’t know because he was quid”.

The title refers mainly to arrangement between the second couple, Ling and Ben, who take two days off every month from being boyfriend and girlfriend, the first and the 15th. The 15 in the Chinese title refers to this. Mei and Philip both admire this, even though Ben makes it increasingly clear that he wants Ling full-time. Philip agrees to let Mei try it, trusting she is too loyal to really stray.

Without giving too much away, I found the conclusion for Ling and Ben ploughed a too-narrow moral furrow, and this also undermined the clear earnest intentions. However, the ending for Mei more than made up for it. Will she finally dump Philip, now that she sees him enter a hotel room with the ravenous Mrs Wang ? Peter hovers, waiting for his chance.

Any excuse to gaze at two of HK’s most attractive actors is a good enough reason to sit through TMD. While not riveting, TMD is pleasant and even enjoyable. I was ready to rate TMD at 5, but the ending bumped it up to 6 for me.

Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: jfierro
Date: 12/21/1999

Bored housewife Oliva Cheng is neglected by her philanderinghusband. To complicate matters she is being pursued by a handsome tennis instructor (Chow Yun-Fat). When she suggests to her husband that they ignore their marriage vows two days a month (hence the Chinese title), he jumps at the chance. But the competition soon makes him realize how much he treasures his wife. Unfortunately, it might be too little too late. A decent film exploring the values of marriage in a modern society.