Thoughts on July Rhapsody

July Rhapsody is a 2001 Hong Kong movie directed by Ann Hui. It is a drama film that focus on
several social problems of Hong Kong faced during the 1990's to 2000's.

Lam Yiu Kwok is a secondary school teacher that teaches Chinese literature. He is living as a good student, a good father, a good hyusband, and a good teacher (as he said in the film, and chronologically). He tries to make the boring lecture topics exciting by giving his students vivid lectures (although none of his students seems to pay attention). He also went to the reunion with his secondary school schoolmates and he has sharp contrasts comparing to his old schoolmates (although he was the best student in his class, he was far less successful than his friends, after he chose his career to become a teacher). He chose to accept the crush from Wu Choi Nam, after finding out that his old schoolmate and wife Chan Man Ching is trying to visit his dying estrange Chinese literature teacher (Mr. Shing) that once loved and later hate.

The plot was well written. It shows the audience the secrets behind a perfect family. The contrast between Lam Yiu Kwok and Wu Choi Nam was also great - Lam being a conservative, boring man and Wu is a girl that does whatever she wants to.

This is what Lam Yiu Kwok wants to do in his life, and that is why he continues to accompany her because he wants to observe why Wu can do whatever she likes, while why he has to stick to his role. Lam was hurt by Chan's decision to visit their old, dying literature teacher and audience will find out the secret behind their teacher that will tear their 20 year marriage apart. The three main characters did very well to make themselves as deep, multi-dimensional characters that made the audience feel for them. This is film that is definitely worth to watch. 8/10.