"China Girl" is a good, updated version of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." The film, which centers on the forbidden romance between Italian-American Tony (Tony Panebianco) and Chinese-American Tye (Sari Chang), is not great, but brings this ancient story of "star-cross'd lovers" to new generations. Shakespeare's language is beautiful, but in this day of short attention spans among our young people he can come across as old and stodgy. Showing this film (along with "Brooklyn Babylon," "West Side Story," "Rocky Road," "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet," "Pretty in Pink," "Romeo Must Die!" and of course, the 1968 classic adaptation, "Romeo and Juliet" by Franco Zeferrelli) can introduce young people to Shakespeare in school, since "Romeo and Juliet" is one of his most famous stories. Young people can realize how timeless Shakespeare's story is, and how it can apply to today's world.
The movie: Tony and Tye meet at a nightclub and fall in love, despite the fact that their ethnic factions are fighting against each other for turf through gang warfare. I agree with previous reviews that the supporting actors are much better than the leads, even though Panebianco and Chang are attractive and impressive in their first roles. The movie is action-packed, containing several fight scenes and one particular scene of graphic violence at the end. There is also a lot of profanity, so viewers should be forewarned. I felt it was strange, however, that for a movie with a supposedly passionate love story, the sex scene was pretty disappointing and actually unsexy! Despite these caveats, though, I think "China Girl" is a good movie and I wish it had done better at the box office. Maybe some cable movie channel can show this film back-to-back with other "Romeo and Juliet"-inspired films for one day, so viewers can see the similarities and differences among the various films. Now that's something that I would like to see! I give this movie an 8 out of 10.
The movie: Tony and Tye meet at a nightclub and fall in love, despite the fact that their ethnic factions are fighting against each other for turf through gang warfare. I agree with previous reviews that the supporting actors are much better than the leads, even though Panebianco and Chang are attractive and impressive in their first roles. The movie is action-packed, containing several fight scenes and one particular scene of graphic violence at the end. There is also a lot of profanity, so viewers should be forewarned. I felt it was strange, however, that for a movie with a supposedly passionate love story, the sex scene was pretty disappointing and actually unsexy! Despite these caveats, though, I think "China Girl" is a good movie and I wish it had done better at the box office. Maybe some cable movie channel can show this film back-to-back with other "Romeo and Juliet"-inspired films for one day, so viewers can see the similarities and differences among the various films. Now that's something that I would like to see! I give this movie an 8 out of 10.