Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Comrades, Almost a Love Story

Play trailer Comrades, Almost a Love Story 1997 1h 56m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
91% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 92% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Country boy Xiaojun (Leon Lai) moves to Hong Kong, hoping to get rich so that he can send for his hometown sweetheart and marry her. But Xiaojun barely scrapes by in the baffling metropolis, and is lonely until he meets city-slicker Qiao (Maggie Cheung). While she schools him in urban living, the mismatched pair become best friends and eventually have a romantic tryst. Both decide it's wise to forget their passionate night and remain friends, but they still secretly yearn for one another.

Critics Reviews

View More
Joshua Polanski There Were No Gods Left 07/05/2024
The essence of traditional romance is simple desire; the essence of Comrades is something more political, though it wields desire (denied) to get where it needs to be. Go to Full Review
Joe Muldoon Battle Royale With Cheese 04/25/2023
The tragic beauty of Comrades: Almost A Love Story is undeniable Go to Full Review
Richard Yu Cinema Escapist 07/01/2019
Comrades, Almost a Love Story remains a very interesting film from my perspective, and given its numerous accolades that propelled Maggie Cheung to fame, it is definitely worth a watch for any fan of hers or Teresa Teng. Go to Full Review
Film Threat 12/06/2005
4/5
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 08/12/2005
2/5
Dan Jardine Cinemania 02/07/2004
79/100
A movie made for the hopelessly romantic. Hardboiled cynics need not apply. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Vinícius d Feb 12 One of the best melodramas i have ever seen. See more DanTheMan 2 11/12/2024 Falling in love is easy; falling out of love is harder. This is where Comrades, Almost a Love Story succeeds; its tragic beauty is undeniable. It's a heartfelt story of two mainlanders caught in fate's grand design, an incredibly moving film full of soulful looks, lingering glances and averted eyes. Director Patrick Chan and writer Ivy Ho throw every romantic convention imaginable into the film, Chan's direction remains restrained and respectful, holding back from too much sentimentality; while Ho's script is rich with wonderful details, drawing upon the culture and the history of recent Hong Kong. Although she eventually falls upon clichés to bring the film full circle, the plot devices don't feel like plot devices but combined with a beautiful piano-laden score means its no deal breaker. Maggie Cheung is wonderful here; her luminous screen presence just lights up the film, while Leon Lai turns in an admirable performance of his own, although occasionally wooden at times, it's lovely to see him inhabit such a real character. Destiny is a force that fascinates Hong Kong, which is understandable as they've felt themselves swept along by the river of history, with little or no control over their eventual fate. Yes, there's a certain drag to it and sometimes it's even a little melodramatic but ultimately Comrades, Almost a Love Story is a wonderfully beautiful celebration of love and all the challenges it brings. See more Daisy C 11/05/2024 This film suggests that when love and life unite, they are a small part of a larger society yet fully embrace every moment. See more william d @acsdoug 08/18/2021 The film starts out amusing and very charming, then it gets bogged down in melodrama and sentimentality before its implausible ending. What the hell, I liked it anyway. See more 04/06/2021 Everyone in this movie has their own love story and that's adorable. The stories are not so real, but I think people want to believe in fate/one-true-love and that's why this movie has been loved so much for such a long time. See more 04/08/2020 the best and all-time favorite! See more Read all reviews
Comrades, Almost a Love Story

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Blush 50% % Blush Watchlist Made in Hong Kong 100% 91% Made in Hong Kong Watchlist Normal Life 70% 49% Normal Life Watchlist Next Stop Wonderland 73% 74% Next Stop Wonderland Watchlist Millennium Mambo 84% 70% Millennium Mambo Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Country boy Xiaojun (Leon Lai) moves to Hong Kong, hoping to get rich so that he can send for his hometown sweetheart and marry her. But Xiaojun barely scrapes by in the baffling metropolis, and is lonely until he meets city-slicker Qiao (Maggie Cheung). While she schools him in urban living, the mismatched pair become best friends and eventually have a romantic tryst. Both decide it's wise to forget their passionate night and remain friends, but they still secretly yearn for one another.
Director
Peter Ho-Sun Chan
Producer
Peter Ho-Sun Chan
Screenwriter
Ivy Ho
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Chinese
Runtime
1h 56m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital