Yue man ying lun

Lan Lan arrives in England from mainland China to live in London and study music at university, thanks to a kind sponsor who has agreed to pay her tutition fees. Not speaking English she struggles to find her way to her sponsor's house but is helped by the kindly Su Tong. The first night at her sponsor's home and Lan Lan learns that the fees being paid depends on her marrying the man's son, so the next morning she leaves and turns to Su Tong for help. Unwilling to go back to China, she tries to make her new life start in a flat with Su Tong and his friend Deng Lin.

A foreign film from the UK was an interesting proposition so I decided to give it a watch late one night and must admit to being left with mixed feelings about it. The fact that most things about it have dated was a bit of a problem; a lot has changed in regards immigration and community groups in a decade and watching the film now tended to make me think of how much more it would have in it if it was made today. Having said that, that isn't a fair complaint given that it was set when it was set. Instead of real insight into the community, this is a rather folded in love story that is built on restraint with a frame of need that love can't meet as easily as relationships of convenience. The drama is a bit folded in on itself but it was still pretty engaging thanks mainly to the characters being interesting.

The actors must receive the praise for a lot of this because their performances are natural and likable even when the material isn't doing that much to help them at times. Chen is fresh faced and convincing and she had me with her for the whole film. Liu and Chen are both good for different reasons and the three of them effectively keep the film going. Support is OK but really nobody is asked to do much outside of these three. The direction is a bit flat and I wasn't won over by it; despite being set in London and using locations it never felt like London, never managed a sense of place and the internal scenes were often too drab to work well because of being overly dark and hard to see.

Overall this was an OK film but time has not been kind to it. At its core it is a restrained love story of the type that has been done much better in, say, In The Mood For Love. The three performances from the leads do well to keep it up when the material falters occasionally and it is worth seeing if you know what you're getting.

Culture clashes, relationship problems, very well enacted. Subtle play by beautiful Chinese actress. I rate it 9 on 10.

I was born in England of Chinese parents - in the course of living in London I've met people exactly like the Chinese immigrants depicted in this film. I think the scripting, plot and cultural characterisation are excellent; the mixture of repression and deep emotion among Chinese people is well drawn, and is something that is, ironically, easier to show than describe.

There are a number of elements within the film that counterpoint the main plot - the moon theme, the noisiness of Chinese people, the music (although more could have been made of Lan Lan's engagement with her flue playing).

In particular, the mixture of the extremely traditional Chinese attitudes with the pragmatism of the survival struggle and the changed character of the new generation make the film compelling watching.

If you understand Chinese, the various dialects, accents and different forms of speech (this is something very true of Farewell My Concubine, where the old-fashioned speech of the aristocrat has a direct emotional impact) are an added pleasure in highlighting the cultural contrasts / juxtapositions.

A simple but very realistic film, beautifully lit and well crafted..great performances and invaluable insight into Chinese culture and of immigrant experiences in London.

It uses archetypal Chinese story themes...love doomed because of duties and responsibilities...honour, and strong bonds of loyalty between friends which are immutable...when these are broke the consequences are often tragic.

I loved...and learnt a lot about this community...a great template for a film really , it would be good to see similar film about other minorities, to help illustrate we are all the same.

I saw Foreign Moon once on TV in Europe. Then never see it in any TV channel listing anymore.

This film is really well made and well acted. The actors and the actress really perform good in professional level. Far more better than those wooden acting which we have often found from those actor and actress in those high scored but shallow films like In The Mood Of Love.

Foreign Moon is a film which brings you into the real mood of love. Not artificial as that shallow one at all. It is so far still not available on DVD. I am glad that I have found the VCD in Hong Kong on time before it drifts out of print. Just hope that someday will find a DVD of it.

If you have found it on TV listing, don't miss it. You will like it.