July Rhapsody

July Rhapsody 男人四十
Directed by	Ann Hui
Produced by	Derek Yee Ann Hui
Written by	Ivy Ho
Starring	Jacky Cheung Anita Mui Karena Lam Shaun Tam
Music by	Tommy Wai
Cinematography	Kwan Pun-leung Thomas Yeung
Edited by	Eric Kwong
Production company	FilmKo Pictures
Distributed by	FilmKo Pictures Distribution
Release date	14 March 2002 (2002-03-14)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Box office	HK$4,874,951

July Rhapsody (男人四十, lit. Man Forty) is a 2002 Hong Kong drama film produced and directed by Ann Hui. The film follows Lam Yiu-kwok (played by Jacky Cheung), a Hong Kong secondary school teacher, and explores his struggles with midlife crisis, marriage and seduction by a female adolescent student. This was Anita Mui's final film appearance before her death from cervical cancer in 2003.

Plot

Jacky Cheung plays Lam Yiu-kwok, a Hong Kong secondary school teacher who is facing a mid-life crisis. While he has only his pride and Chinese poetry to fall back on, his peers are successful businessmen and professionals who flaunt their extravagant lifestyles at reunion dinners. After all these years, Lam is still living in a modest apartment with his wife, Man-ching (Anita Mui) and two teenage sons.

However financial stagnancy is not his only problem. An old flame of Man-ching (who was the couple's former schoolteacher) returns to Hong Kong and uncovers old wounds. Man-ching feels obliged to help her ex-lover.

Meanwhile, Yiu-kwok faces another dilemma: Choi-lam (Karena Lam), a precocious 17 years old student, has a crush on him and the 'forbidden fruit' looks more and more tempting in the light of his wife's 'infidelity'. The two go to Shenzhen, where they celebrate the opening of a friend's nightclub, and spend the night together at a hotel. The film ends with Lam's return to his wife the following morning.

Cast

• Jacky Cheung as Lam Yiu-kwok
  • Otto Wu as Young Lam Yiu-kwok
• Anita Mui as Chan Man-ching
  • Cara Chu as Young Chan Man-ching
• Karena Lam as Woo Choi-lam
• Shaun Tam as Lam On-yin
  • Ricky Kwok as Infant Lam On-yin
• Eric Kot as Wong Yui
• Tou Chung-hua as Sheng Sai-nin
• Jin Hui as Lam Lui-yin
• Leung Tin as Principal Leung
• Race Wong as Mrs. Mak
• Ku Tin-nung as Yiu-kwok's alumnus
• Roddy Wong as Yiu-kwok's alumnus
• Jason Yip as Yiu-kwok's alumnus
• Simon Li as Yiu-kwok's alumnus
• Raymond Yu as Yiu-kwok's alumnus
• James Cheng as Yiu-kwok's alumnus
• Yu Sai-tang as Cho
• Alan Wong as Cho's son
• Wong Yuet-ling as Waiter
• Chan Kui-fai as P.E. teacher
• Lee Yiu-tong as Teacher
• Ng Ka-leung as Teacher
• Law Wai-yee as Teacher
• Li Chui-yee as Teacher
• Fok Bo as Teacher
• Tony Lui as Teacher
• Chan Kin-shun as Teacher
• Nakata Yuki as Japanese giel
• Chow Au-ming as Old man
• Lau Miu-ling as Filipino maid
• Lee Tung-yung as Mainland female doctor
• Cheung Lai-kwan as Tramp in tunnel
• Jonathan Lam
• Ho Tsz-kit
• Carson Fan
• William Ho
• Roy Lau
• Jason Lee
• Levan Mak
• Courtney Wu as Father

Awards and nominations

External links

• mui-mui.org
• July Rhapsody on IMDb
• HK cinemagic entry