Anita Yuen plays psychic widower Mei Fan who exchanged ten years ofher life to save her second son. She won't hear of separating from him for the next thirty years. When Mei turned 68 years old, the "higher powers" mean to have her fulfilling her end of bargain. Mei's son meanwhile has decided that piety has limits and is opting out by migrating. In either case, it seems that this would be Mei's last Chinese New Year celebration. Yuen's old lady make-up was overhyped before screening (it isn't very convincing). Yuen is better in scenes where she plays the middle-age Mei Fan without the benefit of special make-up. The computer effects in this film ranges from pretty good to quite distracting. This film itself is somewhat uneven, with a lot of messages and typical UFO humour to make it go down easier. There is also more thought into this production than the average HK film (I noted the detail design for the flat set; how Anita Yuen put on a Tai Shan accent in the film; likewise many of the old people "lapse" into their native dialect from time to time.) For a HK family movie, the running time is a bit longer than the norm, but it gets more evocative and involving as the film progresses.

(7.4/10)



[Reviewed by Christopher Fu]