Name: Ji lian gou xian nai
Genre: Drama
Released: 1981-07-01
Duration: 1 h 34 min
Rating: 6.7
Cast: Eddie Chan, Yen-Yen Li, Deanie Ip

I had the chance to sit down and watch the 1981 Hong Kong drama titled "Cream Soda and Milk" (aka "Ji lian gou xian nai") here in 2021, 40 years after the movie was initially released. And oddly enough, with my fascination with the Hong Kong cinema, I had never even heard about the movie. I suppose because of the movie's age and the fact that it had no familiar faces on the cast list for me, that is why I hadn't noticed this movie before now, when I was presented with the chance to sit down to watch it.

And while "Cream Soda and Milk" is a watchable movie, it wasn't exactly an overly entertaining movie. To me it felt like the storyline was just missing a coherent red thread that the audience could latch onto. It felt like the storyline, as written by Fong Chen, was mostly just ragtag bits and pieces tied together to form a story and a movie. Sure, there was an overall plot to the movie, but everything in between just didn't feel particularly connected.

The acting in the movie wasn't exactly something noteworthy, and for the most parts it felt like it was a bit over-acted to the point where it was risking becoming laughable. And I suppose a lot of that was because of the poorly written dialogue and superficial characters that milled about in the movie. I didn't really form any bond or relationship to any of the characters in the movie, as they felt like rigid dolls on display.

While I managed to sit through the entire movie, I am sitting here - as the movie ended - with a big sensation of 'was that really it?', because director Rachel Zen didn't really deliver a movie that properly entertained me. Sure, it could be watched a single time, but that was about it, because the movie doesn't have enough proper contents to support more than a single viewing.

My rating of this 1981 drama settles on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. There are far better Hong Kong movies from the early 1980s readily available.

Cantonese cinema from Hong Kong is globally recognized for its action films, martial arts epics, and romantic melodramas. Its innovation in choreography, editing, and atmosphere continues to set new standards for genre filmmaking.

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

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Ling's parents were separated when she was young and she went abroad with her mother. Her brother Ding spends time in the youth detention centers and prisons of Hong Kong.

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Cream Soda & Milk

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