On his way to work "Paul" (Leslie Cheung) just happens to meet a beautiful young lady named "Monica" (Maggie Cheung) in the subway and falls in love at first sight. Wanting to know as much about her as he can he follows her everywhere. Unfortunately, as luck would have it another young woman by the name of "Anita" (Anita Mui) also happens to become attracted to Paul and as a result she begins to follow Paul. The difference though is that Anita is a trickster and enjoys having fun at Paul's expense. This creates all kinds of difficulties for Paul who has other things (i.e. Monica) on his mind. Now, as far as romantic comedies go this particular film wasn't too bad but it could have been much better if the director (Taylor Wong) had managed to put more cohesion between some of these scenes. Because of this I thought the overall movie seemed to be somewhat uneven. Be that as it may, Maggie Cheung was absolutely gorgeous and I thought both she and Leslie Cheung performed very well together. At any rate, given the erratic nature mentioned earlier I have to rate this movie as just average.
5 Reviews
Successful rom com from the Shaw Brothers studio
Leofwine_draca9 November 2016
When people speak of the Shaw Brothers film studio they're usually discussing their run of outstanding martial arts movies which really are second to none. However, people do forget that Shaw dabbled in other genres, including spy films, gangster thrillers, comedies, family dramas, and yes, romance. BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE is a Hong Kong romantic comedy focused around that region's newly-opened subway system.
I should make it clear now that I despite romantic comedies on the whole. They're the opposite of what I go for in the cinema. Saying that, BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE is a pretty good example of its genre, and a film that even I enjoyed on occasion. I watched it mainly to see the three cast members in early roles: Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, and Anita Mui, and all are good value. Leslie Cheung is far from the doomed and tragic persona he would become, instead playing a likeably geeky part. Maggie Cheung is the love interest and paves the way for later fare like POLICE STORY and even IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. Anita Mui is as spunky as ever and shows some of the great personality that would make her a driving force in both Hong Kong cinema and music.
The film is fast-paced and made with the usual painstaking attention to detail that characterised many a Shaw movie. There's plenty of humour here to go with the romance, my particular favourite moment being the madcap, sped-up driving test through the streets of the city. My dislike of the genre as a whole is the only thing that prevents me from rating this film more highly.
I should make it clear now that I despite romantic comedies on the whole. They're the opposite of what I go for in the cinema. Saying that, BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE is a pretty good example of its genre, and a film that even I enjoyed on occasion. I watched it mainly to see the three cast members in early roles: Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, and Anita Mui, and all are good value. Leslie Cheung is far from the doomed and tragic persona he would become, instead playing a likeably geeky part. Maggie Cheung is the love interest and paves the way for later fare like POLICE STORY and even IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. Anita Mui is as spunky as ever and shows some of the great personality that would make her a driving force in both Hong Kong cinema and music.
The film is fast-paced and made with the usual painstaking attention to detail that characterised many a Shaw movie. There's plenty of humour here to go with the romance, my particular favourite moment being the madcap, sped-up driving test through the streets of the city. My dislike of the genre as a whole is the only thing that prevents me from rating this film more highly.
promising start which deteriorates into a terrible mess
nmheavy17 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The other reviewer must have seen another version of this film with a coherent script and plot. The acting is OK but I have no idea how Anita Mui won an award for her part.
There is little or no character or plot development. The screenplay seems to have been written by numerous 'writers' who weren't speaking to each other at the time as its all over the place. Apart from Maggie and Leslie I couldn't see any reason for the other characters to be there except to make up the time.
The emotions of the cast never flow or gel. Maggie blows hot and cold. One moment she's in bed with a man she's planning to marry, and literally the next minute she leaves him in floods of tears. The boss also exhibits schizophrenic tendencies, near the beginning of the film, refusing to see his lover, and half way through turning up out of the blue to tell her he's divorced his wife! His actions are never really explained (or anyone else's for that matter).
I am a Maggie Cheung lover, and have a lot of her early films simply because she is in them. I often love their quirkiness. However, for me, this film became increasingly painful to watch. I'll be giving my copy away.
There is little or no character or plot development. The screenplay seems to have been written by numerous 'writers' who weren't speaking to each other at the time as its all over the place. Apart from Maggie and Leslie I couldn't see any reason for the other characters to be there except to make up the time.
The emotions of the cast never flow or gel. Maggie blows hot and cold. One moment she's in bed with a man she's planning to marry, and literally the next minute she leaves him in floods of tears. The boss also exhibits schizophrenic tendencies, near the beginning of the film, refusing to see his lover, and half way through turning up out of the blue to tell her he's divorced his wife! His actions are never really explained (or anyone else's for that matter).
I am a Maggie Cheung lover, and have a lot of her early films simply because she is in them. I often love their quirkiness. However, for me, this film became increasingly painful to watch. I'll be giving my copy away.
Shaw Brothers Mania: A Romantic Comedy from Taylor Wong.
Captain_Couth19 February 2005
Behind the Yellow Line (1984) was one of the last Shaw Brothers productions. This romantic comedy is about a young man (Leslie Cheung) who's late to his first day of work. After missing a taxi ride, he decides to catch the subway. On the subway train he meets a pretty young lady named Monica (Maggie Cheung) and a loud mouth woman named Anita (Anita Mui) who messes with him just for fun. But it's love at first sight for Leslie and Monica. Anita also falls for Leslie but he only has eyes for Monica. In this crazy world and by simple fate will Leslie and Monica find true love with each other?
A nice surprise from the waning days of Shaw Brothers. Taylor Wong and Gordon Chan create a very enjoyable romantic comedy. Maggie Cheung looking good as ever in her film debut and Anita Mui (with 80's hairdo) acting her way to a Hong Kong Film Festival award for best supporting actress. Alfred Cheung makes a cameo appearance as himself inside a movie theater. He scolds Leslie because he has an argument and scoffs at the movie he and Monica were watching.
If you like romantic comedies then this movie is just for you. A great film debut from Maggie Cheung. It was nothing but up for her and Anita Mui. The Cantonese soundtrack has a duet between Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui.
Highly recommended.
A nice surprise from the waning days of Shaw Brothers. Taylor Wong and Gordon Chan create a very enjoyable romantic comedy. Maggie Cheung looking good as ever in her film debut and Anita Mui (with 80's hairdo) acting her way to a Hong Kong Film Festival award for best supporting actress. Alfred Cheung makes a cameo appearance as himself inside a movie theater. He scolds Leslie because he has an argument and scoffs at the movie he and Monica were watching.
If you like romantic comedies then this movie is just for you. A great film debut from Maggie Cheung. It was nothing but up for her and Anita Mui. The Cantonese soundtrack has a duet between Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui.
Highly recommended.
It had a happy ending
tonydann1 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
It had a happy ending where they got together so why are people crying about it?... I believe it's because people expected Leslie Cheung's character was gonna end up with Anita Mui's character instead of Maggie's character...but no way that was gonna happen because Anita's character was an ass and a bully to Leslie's character so there was no way that was gonna happen...and Just because Anita's character had a change of heart by helping Leslie's character to help him get to and find Maggie's character at the end doesn't mean that Leslie should fall for Anita's character...I loved the end where you see Maggie and Leslie ended up being together where you see Anita's character alone and sad but hey she blew it and it was her fault for not being nice to Leslie's character in the first place. Now people moan about Maggie's character acting dramatic thinking whether she should or shouldn't be with Leslie's character but so what?...people are like this in reality by trying to think of the right decision to be with this particular person...and this movie is just like any other Asian romance movie where they can be dramatic too...but apart from their romance movies many other movies from Asia is Dramatic that's overrated...this had a better happier ending than ''In the Mood for Love'' that also starred Maggie Cheung. But yeah I liked it and it's one of Maggie's and Leslie's best romance movies for sure which is why that it had to get a Blu-ray release.
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