July Rhapsody (2002)

As a study of a dissolving marriage, July Rhapsody may not compare with fellow Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love, but Ann Hui's delicately nuanced and profoundly sad film is similar enough, and good enough, to evoke comparisons. An acclaimed veteran director, Hui has a penchant for elliptical storytelling, which rendered her previous effort, the ghost movie Visible Secret, nearly incomprehensible. In this film, however, it works perfectly as a way of sketching in aspects of the story which eventually build to an intentionally enigmatic conclusion. Where Wong's film is aggressively formalist, Hui tempers hers with a more conventional structure that still allows for her personal touches. A rarity in a slumping Hong Kong film industry struggling to find its feet, July Rhapsody is a thoughtful, quiet film that seems to go against every prevailing trend, and is all the better for it. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide