Cherry Blossoms: Reviews

Cherry Blossoms is one of Chow Yun-Fat's lesser-known works, and for good reason. The movie was actually shot in 1985, but wasn't released until 1988 - most likely to capitalize on Chow's mega-stardom after A Better Tomorrow. But not only is he barely in the movie (despite his top billing and dominance of the cover art), the end result simply isn't up to par with most of his other films.

The movie tells the story of Yu Ta Fu, a famous Chinese author who recieved his education in Japan. The film center on these years, as Yu deals with racism from his Japanese classmates, finds himself increasingly alienated from his Chinese "friends", and goes through the pangs of his first love.

Cherry Blossoms certainly has a lot of interesting themes to work with - but it never goes into great detail about any of them, or for the characters themselves. For a film that is supposed to be a biogrpahy, we learn very little about Yu, other than he's a good writer that has issues about masturbation.

Things wouldn't be quite so bad if the movie didn't move at such a glacial pace. The producers tried to liven things up a bit by splicing in some nude scenes (which caused the director, Eddie Fong, to disavow the finished product) but even the inclusion of naughty bits can't save Cherry Blossoms from becoming a yawn-fest long before its' end.

Major Chow Yun-Fat fans might (and I strongly emphasize "might") want to check this out to see one of his earlier roles. But keep in mind that there's a reason most people don't know any Chow films from the period before A Better Tomorrow.

In the last moments of his life, China's famed poet, Dafu (Chow Yun Fat) remembers his youth as a student in Japan. The most important people in his life were his best friend Lkada, and Lung-Erin, the girl they became rivals over. Finally, Dafu is forced to sacrifice his own happiness for Lung-Erin's safety. Chow Yun Fat has a small role in the beginning and ending of this film, which moves very slowly and ponderously, carefully examining Ya Dafu's days living as a Chinese man in Japan and the contrast between his personality and that, as perceived by writer and director Eddie Fong, of Ya Dafu's Japanese contemporaries. Cherry Blossoms received a very positive review in Stephen Teo's book: Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions. Teo writes: "a lustrous evocation of Japan in the period 1910-20. ... seethes with an atmosphere of repressed desire .... The clash of national identity and individual feelings infuses the film with a mesmerizing quality while enriching it with political themes" (1997: p. 185).