Ai zai bie xiang de ji jie

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 !!

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.