Juliet in Love

A film set in Hong Kong. Jordan is a low-level member of a triad. He is past his youth, has not risen and is in debt; nobody in the group takes him seriously. Judy has had surgery. She was treated for cancer, her body has changed and her husband left her because of it. She lives alone and sees nobody. The two meet because of an incident. There is a baby; through something that came out of the gang's business, a child in need of care has been left in Jordan's hands. Judy helps and the three start living in the same flat. Where the film goes is that temporary arrangement coming to resemble a real family. Nobody says so and everyone begins to believe it will last. At the same time a reckoning is running on the gang side and Jordan cannot stay outside it. What the narrative is interested in is not crime but two adults feeling that they belong somewhere again; the film builds it quietly and without display. Sandra Ng plays Judy and Francis Ng plays Jordan. The performances carry the film. Wilson Yip directed. It counts among the examples in Hong Kong cinema that use crime and melodrama together. Who it is for: anyone who likes quiet melodrama and the mixtures of genre in Hong Kong cinema. Who it is not for: anyone expecting action; the gang side stays in the background and the film gives its weight to the household.