Film Name: 秋天的童话 / An Autumn’s Tale / 秋天的童話
The story is simple, yet the ability to tell a simple tale with both warmth and humor—to make audiences laugh without resorting to slapstick—truly speaks to the skill of the director, screenwriter, actors, and the entire team. That’s why “An Autumn’s Tale” has become a classic. That’s the mark of a great film, isn’t it? Even after more than a decade, it still touches the heart, as if these people, these events, and these emotions unfold daily around us—or we can see echoes of them in our own lives.
When Chuan Touzhi first arrives at the airport to pick up his girlfriend, who’s come to study in America, his loud antics—pretending to be Japanese and spouting broken Japanese at the police—had me laughing. It reminded me of Sanmao’s stories, where she’d pin any mischief, like peeping on Arab women bathing, on the Japanese. Later, when he drove his beat-up car and exchanged insults in multiple languages with foreign punks, he perfectly embodied the image of a warm-hearted small-time hustler.
As Shantouchi gradually fell for this tea-pot girl, the tender feelings drifting through the air were deeply moving.
Sitting side by side in the carriage, neither spoke a word, nor touched. Yet Shantouchi’s gaze remained glued to her, unwilling to look away for even a second, brimming with boundless affection.
Back in the room, Shisanmei was slightly tipsy, her cheeks flushed. Chuantouchi gazed at her, several times on the verge of kissing her, yet never daring to. Returning to the bed, he smoked, the hazy smoke rising slowly, drifting up to the chandelier, then to the green ceiling, filled with boundless melancholy.
Upon waking, the bow ruler set three major rules for himself: abstain from alcohol, gambling, and smoking. Five grand goals: learning is boundless, diligence is the shore; secure the green card, then the gold card; wear socks with shoes; master English grammar; act on desires—the bow loves tea pots.
After pondering, he erased “Ship’s Bow” and rewrote it as “Someone Loves Tea Pots.” The five goals originally made me laugh out loud—stringing them together like that was no easy feat. But seeing Ship’s Bow long to love yet dare not, so cautious and reserved, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for him.
Sister Thirteen knew Ship’s Bow loved her, yet her heart couldn’t accept this affection. She confided in a letter to her friend: “Being with him, I feel no constraints at all. But there’s a type of man you adore being with, yet you wouldn’t want to marry him. We’re from two different worlds. If one day we discover we’re incompatible and must part, neither of us could bear it.”
In the film’s finale, the screenwriter proved kind-hearted, dressing Sammo in a suit to appear before Sister Thirteen as the respectable owner of a small restaurant.
The most realistic ending would have concluded when they parted ways, but that wouldn’t be a fairy tale. A fairy tale is beautiful precisely because it seems unreal.
In his youth, Chow Yun-fat truly radiated a refreshing, dashing spirit. As for Maggie Cheung, her rounded face held a relaxed beauty, and when she smiled, those two dimples made you believe heaven truly favors some people.
The half-baked English spoken by the characters is quite hilarious. When explaining to the police he wasn’t a scalper, Chow Sang-sang desperately repeated, “I am not a yellow cow, I am not a yellow cow.” The poor American officer had no clue what he was saying. Frustrated, Chow gestured wildly: “You talk is yes talk, I talk is no talk?!” Meaning, whatever you say is right, and whatever I say is wrong?! When shouting at people to move out of the way, he yelled, “Hot Water, boiling water~ Hot Water~”
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