The Island Tales

Kwan's seriously misjudged movie recycles the old plot about strangers thrown together by a quarantine scare; during a day and night of enforced isolation on an island they learn some fairly rudimentary lessons about inspiration, motivation, careerism and death. Audience sympathy for the often tiresome characters is assumed rather than earned; a scrambled time-frame, scrappy editing and a women's magazine approach to characterisation don't help. Michele Reis comes off worst as a bossy American-Chinese dyke with a would-be waspish line in put-downs. More idiosyncratic, Shu Qi and Japanese star Momoi fare better. Ex-kung fu star Gordon Liu puts in a surprising appearance as a gay hotel proprietor.