Anita

If you don't know her, this is still a great story. Having lived in HK for half a year and being a fan of Chinese music, I had heard a bit about her. If you know nothing this is still a great movie and true story.

Of course, there is an undercurrent to the story which a foreigner will not get about her but it is still an incredible movie experience. For example, there is a simple scene where she, now being rich and famous, is interviewed and asked if she will stay in Hong Kong after 1997. She proudly says "Yes, I will stay in Hong Kong". This was the year that Hong Kong was handed back over to China from being a British colony and there was a lot of fear at that time that the mainland government would be heavy handed with locals and take away their western freedoms. This turned out to not be the case but many people left HK at that time and she proudly stayed. This is not explained in the movie, you'd have to know the history of HK. But these few blips would take nothing away from this film if you didn't.

If anything, the true story of her life is even more incredible than this story, a wonderful film.

The film brilliantly recreates the golden years of Hong Kong, the hustling and bustling, the acceptance and the melting pot that I grew up in. The screenplay feels just right, every period of Anita's life felt important in the film to ultimately shape who she became, even though some aspects felt the need to further expand. But to nitpick, Louise Wong's portrayal of Anita, while uncanny, fails to capture the most vital aspect of Anita, which was the aura, which can be especially felt when footages of the past were flashed throughout the film. But the voice is brilliantly brought back to life.

I'm sure things were not shown, people were not included due to changing times, but that's just life, at least in the case of Anita, it was preserved.

Living in Hong Kong during it's golden years of cinema, music and live concerts this movie brought back very fond memories. I knew Leslie (GorGor), Anita (Big Sister) and her stylist dress designer Eddie Lau. The production was seamless especially the scenes that blend footage from the past with the present. Louise Wong's portrayal of Anita Mui is brilliant and not much is known about her. The production values are first rate, the direction perfect and storyline honest. Anita did a lot more charity work than what was "allowed" in the movie. Now that Hong Kong is China with a hardline security law it could not be shown.

First of all, please disregard the critics who are playing down the film. Either they did not watched it and not intending to or they have an agenda againt any pro ccp artists who are featured in any movies, dramas or songs. Sad but yes, those folks are irrational and impartial in almost anything in HK now and will stood real low to put down any pro ccp even if they are betraying their own nation and tribe.

From a non Hkger point of view but an avid mandopop followers in the 80s, 90s of the Golden era, the film surely depicted a nostalgic vibe with the familiar household names and old streets of HK.

The film is too short to illustrate all high and lows of Anita's legacy. I'm sure many will agree if this was to be a trilogy instead. The authenticity of the film is on the highly believable side as many of Anita's closest friends and work mates were sought for their perspective on her before the film was made.

Her dedication, drives and empathy were greatly paraded throughout the film. Her rise to stardom and the queen throne were achieved with pure grit and perseverance.

Yes, the main lead Louise could not achieved a 100% resemblance to Anita, but so did any other biography movies...No one is 100% identical in real. Not even twins. So when you hear critics berate the film based on this you can basically walk away. Louise for a debutant, scores high on my ground. For portraying the queen without a sense of awkwardness felt throughout the film. She even gets better as the film progresses, some scenes which you will be unable to tell if it's her or Anita. Magical, indeed.

The part of her and Leslie I believe striked a chord and brought tears to the older crowd. This film is indeed a reminisce of the mandopop peak era across the whole of Asia that us Chinese were so proud of. The grim fact is that the Chinese younger gens are rather into kpop jpop and western pop now instead of their own native tongue.

Apart from Bruce Lee and Ip Man, Asian film industry are not willing to risk biographies due to low returns from box office. Let's hope this Anita will change the scope and bring back legendary artistes that left us early.... Danny Chan, Leslie Kwok, Roman Tam, Lydia Sum and more.

Those who gave it a score of 10 or 1 are rather strange.

I find the movie disappointing and rather overhyped or overrated from HK. The whole movie suffered from a poor script or editing, the trailer is far better.

Too much of real events are deliberately left out probably not to tarnish her image and to appeal to the government and her fans. Her fame as both an actress and singer wasn't felt in the movie and most hit songs at the peak of her career wasn't mentioned at all. Her mum and brother was totally left out, Leslie Cheung's success wasn't mentioned at all making him looked like an unsuccessful artist until after his death, her "slapped" scene by a gangster was shown but what followed all changed, the guy got killed wasn't mentioned at all. We can't feel or see Anita's character and spirit from the movie, can't really understand why in some scenes she felt unhappy or stressed. The best scene in the movie is when she and Leslie film "Rogue", very creative and some HK outdoor scenes of the 80s look realistic. Some said there will be a director's cut of 4 hours, hopefully it will rectify all the shortcomings.