Popular reviews

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  Review by Lou (rhymes with wow!) ★★★½ 2

  Only in a pre-handover Macau could you go out looking for your lost dog and end up finding your estranged dad who is solely preoccupied with fucking as many women as possible and screwing his (professional) life over.

  Shout-out to Anthony Wong, who is stuffing his face in every scene that he appears in.

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  Review by Sean Gilman ★★★★½

  First things first: Anthony Wong is in this movie. He is in three scenes and he is eating in every one of them. It's set in Macao and was released in 2006. I'm pretty sure he filmed his scenes on his lunch breaks during the making of Exiled. Anthony Wong is the best.

  The rest of the review over here.

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  Review by Avirup 5

  The central relationship is really interesting and gets better as the film goes on. There's some really nice moments. There's not much of a story here , it's all about the father-daughter dynamics which is extremely charming and keep things engaging throughout. Aesthetically it's enchanting, Macao looks great and the music too is good — the feel of this thing is really lovely. Also there's Anthony Wong in three scenes and he's eating in every one of them lol. Another pretty good work from Pang.

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  Review by ButtNugget ★★★★★

  After a drunken night at the bar, a man meets a beautiful young woman who won’t stop following him around no matter where he goes. So he makes his move on her without hesitation and they soon sleep together. The next day he gets the shock of his life upon learning that the girl is not only below legal age but she is also his long lost daughter! Yeah, I wasn’t prepared for that either.

  And so begins Isabella, Edmond Pang’s exceptionally exquisite melodrama that is not as lurid as it sounds. In fairness it brings to mind the poignant works of Edward Yang, or better yet it echoes Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Shu Qi collaborations like Millennium Mambo or Three Times.…

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  Review by Willy

  to call this film’s dynamic weird would be an understatement. it starts off with a cop unknowingly soliciting sex from a daughter he didn’t know about.. only to then resume his father role, at which point this then turns into a sweet father-daughter relationship movie. that’s not all there is to it though.

  and what's really interesting too, is that it's set in the former portugese colony macau, in 1999, the year sovereignty was transferred over to china. this might be of more significance than i can grasp right now in terms of analyzing the film, since i know nothing about macau beside the quick glance at wiki just now. i will mention though that knowing this now, the connection…

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  Review by Jack Russo ★★★★½

  Times of turmoil; Macau reunified with China; a father reunited with his daughter; crooked cops and pending trials. Pang is often fixated upon the uncertainty of the future even as his methods rapidly change - Dream Home a property crisis slasher, Love in a Puff a romcom of changing circumstance, AV a JAV cumming-of-age - and within this ephemeral melodrama of transition arises a particularly WKW sense for melancholy at the living intersection of past memories within present moments. Though this comparison is predominantly a matter of mood rather than form the longing extends to the occasional outright Doyle-esque compositions, such as Chapman To slumped with his face pressed against a slot machines whose rotating lights are but luck flashing…

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  Review by Koen ★★★½

  Maybe the second best movie set in Macau (behind Exiled, of course).

  Anthony Wong eating food in literally all of the three scenes he’s in is a mood

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  Review by Justin Decloux ★★★★

  A charming story about a crooked cop (Chapman To) who learns he has a daughter (Isabella Leong) a few days before Macau is handed to China. They slowly reconnect, make trouble and look for her lost dog Isabella. Beautifully shot and metaphorically rich. Directed and Written by Pang Ho-cheung, Hong Kong's last notable commercial auteur.

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  Review by Dennie van der Tuuk ★★★★½

  Movie magic!

  An enchanting little picture. There is so much to take in when watching Isabella in terms of story, visuals and music. The whole movie is a thing of beauty. It does take a little time to really get started. And luckily it does and you're truly in for a treat. I began this review with the statement "movie magic". At a certain moment in the movie, that kicks in, and it doesn't stop with being magical to the very end. This really reminds us why we love watching movies so much. It's seeing something like Isabella.

  This movie starts with a story. But as the movie progresses, the story gets less and less important. It's the relationship between…

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  Review by cozy ★★★½ 1

  closest to a wkw movie without being a wkw movie

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  Review by LadySasori ★★★½ 10

  Very good surprise this Hong Kong film shot in Macao.

  On the eve of Macao's annexation to the People's Republic of China, police officer Shing finds himself plunged into a serious professional and private crisis. Suspected of corruption, he has just been suspended and a prostitute he thought he was having for the night announces to him that she is his daughter, whom he did not even know existed. Once recovered from this news, he gets to know this Yan who forcibly moves into his home and unceremoniously upsets his bachelor habits.

  Bik-Yan thinks she's found her father's cop (Chen aka Chapman To who is amazing and far away from his comic roles). We follow their efforts to try to…

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  Review by rohan/ローハン ★★★★½

  i think this is isabella leongs best performance in a movie. and anthony wong i saw you eating a hot pot, some noodles and a burger in the only 3 scenes you were there lmao. also…was that derek tsang? like damn what is going on…

  oh and the movie takes daddy issues to a new level. didn’t think this would work but hey i was surprised how much i enjoyed it. if i ever visit macau im going with a rolex on my hand. no questions asked.