Reviewed by: xiaoka Date: 12/09/2001 Summary: painful! simply painful! I'm warning you! I pride myself on sitting through every movie, no matter how bad. And I'm very easy to please when it comes to HK movies, but this one was simply horrible, in every definition. It tried to be artsy, but instead comes out as a confusing, annoying, unintelligble mess. Everything the other reviews say is absolutely correct, but not sufficiently expressive in the depths of horror that is this movie. I don't know how you could convince Michelle Reis and Shu Qi to sign up for this thing, I hope they earned a lot of money, cause there sure as hell ain't any other sort of satisfaction that can be derived from being associated with this movie. The dialogue, ESPECIALLY the english is simply suicide inducing. Thats WHEN you can understand it. the Japanese actress mumbles through every line she has, which are 99% in english. I was happy when she died so I wouldn't have to listen to her anymore, but then she came back in the flashbacks! The story just meandered pointlessly, it looked like the director was high on pot when they were filming the actors pretending(?) to smoke pot... there has to be some logical explanation behind how this movie came out this badly. 'Artistic vision' just can't be this bad, can it? I almost never give a bad review to a movie, but in this case, I'd say avoid this movie like the PLAGUE! Reviewer Score: 1

Reviewed by: lordmanji Date: 12/14/2000 Summary: Vague Notions/ Poor Execution The Island Tales is an art movie, but it is too artsy for its own good. Often expanding into vague monologue through Haruki, and stranger interactions between the group of people stranded there, it is a confusing movie right up to the end. While there are some understandable elements in there, such as the brewing relationship between Michelle Reis and Julian Cheung, that subject is brought up and dropped just as suddenly to make room for a more obscure theme of people crossing into others' worlds. The director, Stanley Kwan, mouthfeeds us his themes through Haruki's broad soliloquoys. "This animal is free...yet trapped at the same time," when describing Han. "Let us meet in our own world," when talking to the deceased Marianne. The narrative attempts to further the thematics of Island Tales, but only vaguely presents itself, letting the characters interactions fill in the detail. However, the character's interactions are limited to partying as the quarantine on the island continues, and while they cross into their own worlds, it is so brief that no definitive statement can be ascertained. A possibly intersting scene in fleshing out the characters occurs upon Marianne's death, but just like the rest of the movie, it merely only touches upon her death and the character's reactions to it, where the scene just cuts to an unimportant, unenlightening scene with Mei-ling and her bartender friend. The movie could have been passable if not for the horrible mostly English dialogue that the characters speak. Marianne being the worst. Sorry to say but when she died, my ears cried in relief. In summary, the Island Tales is a very confusing, elaborately-made art movie. IT could have been interesting if it had expanded its profound notions of our interactions with strangers and our loneliness, but it merely only touches upon them. What is left are characters left wandering shiftlessly into each other, and once the quarantine ends, much like the movie, the characters shiftlessly apart.

Reviewed by: Paul Fonoroff Date: 03/24/2000 Summary: High and dry in art hell What constitutes an "art film" will be debated for as long as art films are produced. But, no matter how subjective, there is a line that separates "good" art films from "bad". The Island Tales belongs in the latter camp. Adjectives like "tedious", "pretentious", and "self-indulgent" only mildly describe the agony of sitting through this look at a half-dozen souls stranded on an island that may or may not be contaminated by a plague. The works of director Stanley Kwan Kam-pang are, admittedly, an acquired taste that some critics have never acquired. While one is intrigued by the underlying premises of films like Centre Stage or Full Moon in New York, the execution of the ideas leaves many shaking their heads in desperation. Kwan also has numerous enthusiasts, and many of his films have won awards and received praise at international film festivals. With The Island Tales, Kwan has created a movie which might turn off even his most diehard fans. The central idea in Jimmy Ngai's script has cinematic possibilities. A disparate group enters uncharted territory as it faces the ultimate challenge of survival with no one to rely on but themselves. And a disparate group it is. Sharon (Michele Reis) is a serious-minded Eurasian taking a "sentimental journey" to May Fly Island (a fictitious locale, shot on location in Lantau), scene of some not very happy childhood memories. Her friend Marianne (Kaori Momoi, familiar to Hong Kong audiences as the matriarch in The Yen Family) is a free-spirited Japanese coquette. When the government orders the island quarantined, they make the acquaintance of Mei-ling (Shu Qi), an elfin Taiwanese beauty who works for the proprietress of a local restaurant (Elaine Jin). Other personalities include teen idol Hon (Julian Cheung Chi-lam), who has come to May Fly to get away from it all, and a tubercular Japanese writer, Haruki (Takao Osawa), who types away as he tries to conquer his illness. The movie deals with its "profound" issues in such a labored manner that after five minutes one may feel exasperated and ready to bolt for the exit. But a critic's responsibility is to see a movie till its close. One waits, watches, and hopes, much like the characters in The Island Tales. And, just as it is for them, the experience is not pleasant. A major problem is the dialogue, most of which is in English and constitutes what is among the most poorly written colloquies outside of student film projects. When Julian Cheung boasts about his sexiness and superstardom, it comes across as awkward-stilted rather than cute-pompous. Michele Reis, who proved in Flowers of Shanghai how good her acting can be when given the chance, delivers one of the worst performances in the history of recent Hong Kong cinema. It's not her fault. Even Meryl Streep would have had problems delivering most of those lines. At least the English of Reis and Cheung is clear and intelligible. When the two Japanese actors speak, they are often incomprehensible. Were it not for the Chinese subtitles, viewers would frequently be clueless as to what they are saying. Not that they have a better chance when speaking in Japanese (with Chinese and English subtitles). Haruki's drunken soliloquy towards the end of the movie is embarrassing to witness and dull to boot. At times, it seems like a spoof of a bad Zuni production. The Chinese dialogue is no better. A scene where Mei-ling and Hon meet on the beach at night is full of Mandarin and Cantonese talk. They talk and talk and talk and the talk is so fatuous that it's a wonder they didn't become as drowsy as the audience. Throughout the film, most of the characters relieve their stress by getting drunk or high or both. The imbibed behaviour is supposed to come across as adorable, uninhibited, and cool. Obnoxious is a more apt description. The movie ends with the line, "The quarantine lasted less than fifteen hours." Despite a running time of only 93 minutes, The Island Tales gives the impression of lasting more than fifteen hours. Viewers may prefer to be quarantined. This review is copyright (c) 1999 by Paul Fonoroff. All rights reserved. No prt of the review may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. This review appears in HKMDB by kind permission from Paul Fonoroff.

Reviewed by: ryan Date: 02/26/2000 Summary: Stanley's Personal Work Most of us first heard about Stanley KWAN's latest film "The Island Tales" from the news that it was to appear in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival. Like Stanley's "Hold You Tight", his film is scheduled to open after Berlin and Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. Will this film create a new image for Michelle REIS and Julian CHEUNG Chi-lam? "The Island Tales" is a movie about a motley crew on Manfly Island. States' resident Sharon (Michelle REIS) is visiting with her partner Marianne (MOMOI Kaori). Sharon is a girl who is tough and rational while Marianne is more impulsively oriented, a photographer. Sharon is unhappy with their relationship and they are waiting for the return ferry. At the ferry pier they meet Mei-ling (SHU Qi), a girl who has just begun a relationship with a foreigner, David, and is now waiting for his return. Meanwhile, Haruki (OSAWA Takao), a journalist recovering from tuberculosis, is walking on the beach when he meets Han (Julian CHEUNG), an actor escaping his hectic schedule. The peace of the island is suddenly disturbed by a crisis. The government has discovered that it may possibly be the source of the hazardous Stone Virus, placing the island under quarantine. Nobody is allowed to come or go. As with "Hold You Tight", "The Island Tales" centres around the relationships and interactions beween different groups. In "Hold You Tight", their was the triangle of Chingmy YAU, Sunny CHAN and Eric TSANG. In "The Island Tales" there are three parties: Mei-ling + David, Sharon + Marianne and the triangle of Han, Bo and Haruki. Whether you care for "The Island Tales" or not depends on your willingness to enter into Stanley KWAN's experiment. In this movie, the relationships between the characters are not sketched in detail for us. We do not know the background or intricacies of the relationship between Sharon and Marianne, and we cannot measure the strength of the attraction between Mei-ling and David. The whole movie is very flat in its description. However, it is understandable that only "pale" descriptions can bring out the relationships and interactions between a group who are essentially strangers. This set-up makes the response to the announcement of the quarantine much more interesting. However, there needs to be greater description of the individuals themselves in addition to the depiction of the environment. Without this, audiences may find the second half of the movie difficult to endure. Michelle REIS stands out as the US citizen whose behaviour is disliked by almost everybody: she tends to speak in English when Cantonese is more appropriate, she acts superior to everybody and arrogantly thinks she is smarter than the others. This reflects the characteristics of many people in Hong Kong. In fact, while she looks very tough and cool, her self-confidence evaporates when faced with a crisis. In comparison, MOMOI Kaori's character is passive. The role lacks focus making it difficult to interpret her relationship with Sharon. As such it is difficult to judge the quality of her acting since the role is so undemanding. SHU Qi is purely a side-show in the movie since we neither see David, nor hear his voice. She has to express the sudden love between herself and David and fortunately the flat style of the film benefits this depiction. Generally, there isn't much room for the actors to act. Its a pity to see Julian CHEUNG wasted in this film. Following the interaction between Han and Haruki on the beach, one expects more interactions between them later but their relationship is never mentioned after the quarantine is announced. In short, "The Island Tales" is a movie with a flat description of a day on an outlet island. Michelle Reis gives us a new angle to her acting but we cannot find anything of interest from the other actors. Written by Ryan Law, from Hong Kong Movie DataBase, on 23 February, 2000.