TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
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Tagline: A realistic look at modern romance… Review by Neo: Magic Boy is the best modern romance cinema since 2006's HK Neo Reviews acclaimed flick, I'll Call You. Neo rarely begins with bold statements, but Magic Boy is easily, light hearted, enjoy yet ultimately realistic look at modern HK romance. Setting along the busy streets of Mong Kok, the current flick touches on the sparkles and magically feelings at the start of a relationship and how quickly that feelings can come and go away. The solution, it is ultimately an answer of how different people come together to deal with it. What makes Magic Boy set apart from those commercially driven flicks like Love is Not All Around and Marriage with a Fool is the simple and local HK feel that the film is able to translate to the audience.Having not seen, director Adam Wong Sau-Ping previous acclaimed effort in When Beckham Meet Owen, judging by this flick alone, one can easily tell that Wong is a director that knows the place of Mong Kok particularly well. Mong Kok is a wonderful place at night, a surrounding that does not go to sleep until the early hours of tomorrow. From Neo's recent visit, (in an unrelated fact, the current reviewer brought the lap top that he is typing right now in one of the shots of the movie), the pace of Mong Kok is fast and links well with the favours of HK new generation. Both in taste and romance, people come and go, but Magic boy explores this particular notion and somehow comes out a winner of some sort in the audience's heart.Kate Yeung is a good actress and for any example one need to look no further than 2006's Eternal Summer. She is utterly natural and suitably modern as she is likable at the same time. Yeung is fresh face and how yet to be exploited by the commercial cinema of HK. Her face have regularly implanted in indie flicks like 20:30:40 and the as mentioned before Taiwanese youth drama, Eternal Summer. An actress with an unlimited potential that is not unlike another Neo's favourite, Karena Lam. What is more amazing is that it is not hard to imagine of this young girl's unexplored range.Anjo Leung Hiu-Fung performs extremely well in a raw yet realistic debut. His simple and plain pursue of Yeung allows the audience to side along with him. Still, this flick is really one that moves along at a rapid pace. It endeavors through the journey of each character, the contrasting personalities and ultimately the complexity of modern romance. What exactly does love means to the new generation. The differences in the past and now are vivid depicted in the grandma and grandson conversation where she claims that she never asked why grandpa loved her. Modern romance, asks question and almost anything, but really the question lies in whether the answer is actually necessary. When a girl asks you why you liked her, it begs the audience to think and ponder as to whether it is really a question or rather a rhetoric one.No matter what answers you come up with the opposite receiver have already decided the outcome. It goes without saying that nearly all romance at the beginning seems fresh, exciting and even magical, but can love exist on that alone. The answer is really depends and without giving the awaiting audience too much hope, more often than not, people fall apart as it takes two mend a problem, however simple or complex.All in all, Magic Boy is an interesting and realistic look at modern romance. It is about time that the next I'll Call you come along and luckily the current movie did not disappoint. Perhaps, the movie doesn't really say much or one can say that nothing really happens, but sometimes, it is the tiny moments of change or happenings that make a good movie. Sure, Magic Boy can be better and maybe even a tad more touching, but ultimately it works well enough to satisfy the audience and at the same time being realistic enough to keep the current review typing words after words. Without going on much longer, Neo just want to recommend Magic Boy to those who missed its DVD/cinema release and bring on some magic and sparks into your life… (Neo 2008) I rate it 8/10www.thehkneo.com
