RETURN OF THE CUCKOO (十月初五的月光) (2015)

Genre: Drama
Director: Patrick Kong 　
Cast: Chi Lam Cheung, Charmaine Sheh, Nancy Sit, Michael Tong, Joe Chen, Wilfred Lau, Jacquelin Chng, Samuel Kwok, Chan Ka-Kai, Helen Ma, Henry Lo
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Golden Village Pictures & Clover Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 12 November 2015

Synopsis: On the day of Macau’s handover in 1999, Man-Cho (Chi Lam Cheung), Kiki (Joe Chen) and their neighbors were celebrating Aunty Q‘s birthday (Nancy Sit). Kwan-Ho migrated to the US for some years and she made a surprise appearance at the birthday party. Despite the jovial ambience, Man-Cho noticed that Kwan-ho is strangely quiet and seems troubled. At the same night, Man-Cho receives news that Lai-Sun has died in a car accident, Man-Cho was worried and followed Kwan-ho to the hotel, he eventually saves her from her suicide attempt. After Kwan-ho got discharged from hospital, she is still sad and often deep in thoughts. Man-Cho, Aunty Q and Kiki tried their best to cheer Kwan–ho up by showering her with care and concern. Through the years, Man-Cho, Kwan-Ho, Kam-Sing and Aunty Q have experienced the joys and sorrows of life. While things seem to be going fine, bad news strikes: Man-Cho learns that he has cancer and has less than half a year to live…

Movie Review:

‘Return of the Cuckoo’ remains one of Julian Cheung and Charmaine Sheh’s most popular drama series till this date, but if there was one thing that it didn’t give fans, it was proper closure. And so it is understandable that fifteen years after the fact, writer/ director Patrick Kong would attempt to give fans the ending that they wanted to see, i.e. that Cheung’s Man-Cho would get together with Sheh’s Kwan-Ho, notwithstanding Auntie Q’s (Nancy Sit) objections or even the fact that Man-Cho had married Lai-Sun’s (Stephen Ma) at the end of 20 episodes and moved to the States thereafter. Still, this big-screen version of the perennial TVB favourite squanders every ounce of the audience goodwill that the series had built up, substituting real pathos for contrived melodrama that frankly does neither the characters nor their fans any favours.

As an excuse to bring Kwan-Ho back to Macau, Kong introduces a personal tragedy that sees her try to commit suicide not once but twice within the first half hour. Lai-Sun and their two children have unfortunately perished in a car accident, shortly after she discovered that Lai-Sun was having an affair with someone at work, leaving Kwan-Ho devastated. Who better to nurse her back to health than Man-Cho of course, but since that wouldn’t in itself make a movie, the pair whom we know should and already get together find themselves intertwined in a love triangle involving a mute girl named Kiki (Joe Chen), whom we are told Man-Cho was very close to in the time since before Kwan-Ho’s surprise return on the occasion of Auntie Q’s birthday.

Whereas the first act was about nursing Kwan-Ho back to psychological health, the second deals with Kiki’s love for Man-Cho and her concomitant jealousy towards Kwan-Ho as she starts to get closer to Man-Cho all over again. As with any one of Kong’s teenage romances, Kiki’s unrequited love for Man-Cho resolves itself in over-the-top fashion during Typhoon Fengshen in 2008 – and without spoiling it for anyone, let’s just say that it is particularly unconvincing because at no point before her act of selfishness does Kiki seem that bitter and resentful of Man-Cho and Kwan-Ho rekindling their love for each other. To top things off, Kong uses that one event to lurch even further into melodrama in the third and final act, as a head injury necessitates an operation on Man-Cho which would save his life but potentially cause him to lose his memory altogether.

So after all is said and done, does Kong in fact grant fans the resolution that they have been waiting for? The irony is that he doesn’t. Oh yes, you read that right – instead of tying up what had seemed inevitable from the start, Kong teases yet another continuation to the love story that just wouldn’t end, leaving room for Man-Cho and Kwan-Ho to fall in love with each other again. Had he woven a more compelling narrative for the ‘Return of the Cuckoo’, the open-ended conclusion at the end of this movie would probably have made a lot more sense; as it stands however, it is yet another frustrating capper to an altogether frustratingly unsatisfactory sequence of events that will leave fans of the original series exasperated and the rest of us feeling blasé.

Yes, besides the initial euphoria of seeing Cheung and Sheh (and to a lesser extent, Ma, who appears in no more than an extended cameo) in their original roles, there is little that this belated reunion offers those who fell in love with them or the rest of the supporting characters. Sit’s Aunty Q appears for no other reason than for the sake of maintaining continuity with the original series, and the same can be said of the rest of the TVB veterans including Samuel Kwok (郭鋒) as Kwan-Ho’s father, Helen Ma (馬海倫) or Henry Lo (魯振順). The one returning supporting cast member who is not completely redundant is Michael Tong’s Kam-sing, whose fortunes as the King of Gambling in Macau are reversed after his arrest by the authorities.

Notable too are unbilled cameos by Kent Cheng, who plays a reclusive real estate mogul Kam-sing tries to court to turn his fate around, and the three members of Grasshopper (草蜢) whom Kwan-Ho meets while on a gambling binge to drown her sorrows earlier on. Kong’s ensemble is pretty impressive, but the heavyweight line-up is sadly undermined by an undercooked script that not even the committed performances by the forever youthful Cheung and the elegantly beautiful Sheh can redeem; in fact, those who do not have the benefit of hindsight will probably be wondering just what is so mutually attractive about Man-Cho and Kwan-Ho, because hardly any sparks fly between them in the course of this movie.

And with this benefit of hindsight, it is no wonder Cheung had expressed reservations about Kong’s script even before shooting, with rumours that he was at odds with Kong’s interpretation of his character as well as the story in general. For the lack of a better word, this big-screen continuation of the TVB series is itself a cuckoo, an ineffectual shadow of its much more superior predecessor that proves some good things should be left alone. As much as anyone who has seen the series would love to see Cheung and Sheh back together again, it is hardly an overstatement that they certainly deserve much, much better. 

Movie Rating:

(Contrived and ceaselessly melodramatic, this continuation of the hit TVB series is, despite Julian and Charmaine's reprisal, a disappointing shadow of its much superior predecessor)

Review by Gabriel Chong