Anna Magdalena (Chinese: 安娜瑪德蓮娜) is a romantic fantasy comedy film from Hong Kong, made in 1998 and starring Aaron Kwok, Kelly Chen and Takeshi Kaneshiro. It was the directorial debut of production designer Yee Chung-Man.

Anna Magdalena
DVD cover
Directed by	Yee Chung-Man
Written by	Ivy Ho
Produced by	Claudie Chung
Starring	Aaron Kwok Kelly Chen Takeshi Kaneshiro
Cinematography	Peter Pau
Edited by	Maurice Lee[1]
Music by	Chiu Tsang-hei[1][2]
Production companies	Golden Harvest[3] United Filmmakers Organization (UFO)[3]
Distributed by	Golden Harvest
Release date	4 April 1998 (1998-04-04)
Running time	98 minutes[4]
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Box office	HK$7,805,160

Title

The title refers to the keyboard piece Minuet in G Major believed to have been written by Johann Sebastian Bach's colleague, Christian Petzold, from the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach.[1] Anna Magdalena was Bach's second wife. The music attracts the attention of Chan Kar-fu and Yau Muk-yan as Mok Man-yee plays it on her piano. The film score uses this theme repeatedly.

Synopsis

The film structure loosely follows that of the minuet: four "movements", which are announced by titles: two themes, a duet, and a set of variations.[1] 1- Chan Kar-fu's (Takeshi Kaneshiro) introduction 2- Yau Muk-yan's (Aaron Kwok) effect on his life 3- Mok Man-Yee's (Kelly Chen) effect on their lives 4- Chan Kar-fu's literary vision of love.[5] This fourth "movement" (Variations) is a wild fantasy on the previous material, based on the novel written by Kaneshiro's character: The XO Pair.[2]

Unemployed aspiring writer Yau Muk-yan (Aaron Kwok) moves into the apartment of Chan Kar-fu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a shy piano tuner. Both will soon fall in love with their new neighbor Mok Man-Yee (Kelly Chen).

Cast includes

• Aaron Kwok as Yau Muk-yan
• Kelly Chen as Mok Man-Yee
• Takeshi Kaneshiro as Chan Kar-fu
• Jacky Cheung as Policeman (cameo)
• Leslie Cheung as Editor (cameo)
• Anita Yuen as Assistant Editor
• Josie Ho as Cindy, Yau Muk-yan's former girlfriend
• Leo Ku as Client in restaurant (cameo)
• Eric Tsang as Building watchman (cameo)
• Wei Wei as Mrs. Leung
• Yu Wai-Lung as Child X
• Yuki Lai as Child O
• Jojo Hui as Masked woman

[6] [7]

Filming locations

• Hong Kong
• Vietnam for the fantasy scenes[1]

Reception

The film grossed HK$7.8 million in Hong Kong.[4]

Awards and nominations

• 18th Hong Kong Film Awards:[2]
  • Nominated - Best Cinematography (Peter Pau)
  • Nominated - Best Art Direction (Poon Chi-wai)
  • Nominated - Best Costume Design (Ng Lei-lo)
  • Nominated - Best Original Score (Chiu Tsang-hei)
• 1999 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
  • Won: Film of Merit

See also

• Aaron Kwok filmography
• List of Hong Kong films

References

External links

• hkcinemagic entry (includes trailers)
• lovehkfilm entry
• chinesecinemas.org entry (detailed review)
• fareastfilms
• Russian film review (includes pictures)
• brns entry (more pictures)
• Soundtrack listing
• Anna Magdalena at IMDb
• Anna Magdalena at AllMovie