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ANNA MAGDALENA REVIEW

Takeshi Kaneshiro, Aaron Kwok and Kelly Chen

Cast of Characters

Go to Anna Magdalena Pictures

A dark-humoured comedy, "Anna Magdalena" is an odd movie, divided into 2 main sections. The first is about the complicated relationships that develop between Chan Ka Fu, Yau Wing Fu and Mok Man Yee. Chan Ka Fu holds a special place in his heart for Mok Man Yee, but she becomes a couple with his friend Yau Wing Fu, to his disappointment.
The second part of the movie is about a book Chan Ka Fu writes, in which he expresses his love for Mok Man Yee by dreaming up a fantasy world and life, where he becomes a combined Chan Ka Fu/Yau Wing Fu, is a superhero, but most importantly, wins the love of Mok Man Yee.

The movie starts off showing a day in the life of Chan Ka Fu. A quiet man by nature, he is a piano tuner although he himself does not know how to play one. While calling in to a residence to fix a piano, he stumbles into an argument between Yau Wing Fu, a penniless bludger, and his girlfriend. She knows he is going to dump her, but desperately wants him and tries to get him to stay. However, being a girl user, he manages to sneak away without any conscience. Later on, the same day, both men meet up on the bus, and the chatty Yau Wing Fu starts up a conversation. They develop a weird friendship on the bus trip, and Chan Ka Fu allows him to stay at his place "for the while". Yau Wing Fu becomes a "leech", living off Chan Ka Fu's money, promising to buy him a house in a rich area when he finishes his book and it becomes a blockbuster. However, one word is never seen in that book throughout the whole movie.

At this point, Mok Man Yee enters the storyline. At first sight, Chan Ka Fu falls for her, when she is just moving into the block he is living in. However, she is a bitch, and manages to get all of the residents in the block to hate and/or fear her. Yau Wing Fu and Mok Man Yee become the greatest enemies and constantly harass one another at this time. The most memorable part of this is when Yau Wing Fu spraypaints on her door "bitch" and she retaliates, insisting that "turtle" be sprayed on Chan Ka Fu's door when he tries to apologise for his friend.

However, when Yau Wing Fu detects heavy smoke coming from Mok Man Yee's apartment and they escape, Chan Ka Fu arrives outside, only to be met with the sight of his friend and object of desire embracing. Thus Yau Wing Fu and Mok Man Yee become a couple, with Chan Ka Fu left out and feeling jealousy. He questions Mok Man yee why it is that the "bad boys" always get the girls and why are they so charming. Soon though this relationship is dealt a severe blow when one of Yau Wing Fu's old lovers meets him in a cafe and her present boyfriend seeks revenge when she dumps the guy. Mok Man Yee finds out he is a girl user, and she does something that has never happened before-she dumps him. So severe is this blow that Yau Wing Fu leaves soon after, looking for a job so he might earn her respect and get her back. Mok Man Yee still loves him though, and together with Chan Ka Fu, they look for him. He finds out that in fact the reason why she moved to the flat in the first place was because she saw him one day near the apartment, fell in love at once, and so chose the apartment.

Eventually he returns, with a job, gets back together with Mok Man Yee, and moves in with her.
At this point, the story changes. Chan Ka Fu, wanting to express his love for Mok Man Yee, sends in a book he has written to a publisher, and the assistant editor accidently picks up the book and starts to read the poorly written work. However, the ideas in it are not bad and in fact she can relate to it because she has a secret crush on her married boss, who she does not dare look in the face everytime he talks to her.

The book, called "XO Lovers", is set in an imaginary place called H Town, where one night 2 orphans are left on the steps of a cathedral, who are later taken in. Growing up there, the 2 orphans are dreamy, and so earn bad marks on their tests. Thus, one is called "X", the other "O".
Overnight they grow into adults, one turning out to be Mok Man Yee as "X", the other Chan Ka Fu as "O". They get average jobs, due to their poor academic results, Ka Fu as a hairdresser, Man Yee getting a job as a factory worker. However, they hear about a treasure in a haunted house, and both decide to go for it. Dressing up in superhero costumes, they meet up and recognise one another, whom they haven't seen for ages. They team up, and thanks to the alert Ka Fu they find the gold. However, a ghost appears and makes the condition that they must locate a "Mok Man Yee" and tell her that he loves her. This is Chan Ka Fu's way in real life for expressing his love in the book.
After some very funny scenes, they finally locate the real "Mok Man Yee"'s nephew, as she is already dead. Taking out their music boxes, they open them and in the ghost's there is the message:"Mok Man Yee, I love you". In Mok Man Yee's, there is the reply:"I have known all along".
After they finish their job, X and O set up a love message service where they drive around delivering love messages. This is another funny bit, where they get water splashed over them, threatened with a gun by the husband of one of their message receivers, among other things.
In the end, Ka Fu expresses his love to Man Yee, who replies:"I knew it all along".

In real life, the book gets published, and Chan Ka Fu meets up with Yau Wing Fu in a bookstore. From the book, Wing Fu realises Ka Fu liked Man Yee all along, and tells him they already broke up, and that he was stupid for keeping his feelings to himself.
Wing Fu then leaves Man Yee, and the ending then is unclear. You see Man Yee's piano being moved down the building. Does this mean she moves in with Ka Fu, or does she move out completely now that Wing Fu is gone? Ironically, Ka Fu becomes the writer, when in fact Wing Fu was supposed to be, at least at the beginning. Perhaps this is hinting that Ka Fu is becoming a combined being of the two, or a role reversal? In either case, perhaps Man Yee starts to like Ka Fu?
This movie has many themes, including love, comedy, the ironic side of life, human emotions and behaviour, fantasy and many other things. The ending leaves a lot unanswered, but perhaps the director wanted us to walk away thinking about the movie?