Chinese Box

Directed by:  Wally Wong
Starring:  Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, Reuben Blades
Running Time:  1h 35min

Irons gives an inspired performance in a film where Hong Kong itself is a lead character.  Irons is the foreigner trying to make sense of his place in life and in a strange land.  Struck with Leukemia, he shifts his focuses inward and changes himself so that he changes others.  The documentary style shooting gives the film historic realism, as Hong Kong is handed to the Chinese from the British.  Love, power and business must change hands and the takeover must truly affect every resident, it is altering the life of Irons.  The grittiness still can't make up for the slow pace however, and the film never seems to climax or pivot enough to truly move the viewer.  Great scenes of Hong Kong and Irons' acting are the highlights of a slow moving film.

Grade:  C+