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Office (2015 Hong Kong film)

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Office
Film poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese華麗上班族
Simplified Chinese华丽上班族
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHuá Lì Shàng Bān Zú
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingWaa4 Lai6 Seong2 Baan1 Zeok6
Directed byJohnnie To
Screenplay bySylvia Chang
Based onDesign for Living
by Sylvia Chang
Produced byJohnnie To
Sylvia Chang
StarringChow Yun-fat
Sylvia Chang
Eason Chan
Tang Wei
CinematographyCheng Siu-Keung
Edited byDavid Richardson
Music byLo Tayu
Keith Chan Fai-young
Production
companies
Edko Films
Beijing Hairun Pictures
Zhejiang Unique Media
LeVision Pictures
Sun Entertainment Culture
Media Asia Films
Milkyway Image
China Movie Channel
IQIYI Motion Pictures
Huaxia Film Distribution
Distributed byEdko Films
Release dates
  • 2 September 2015 (2015-09-02) (China)
  • 24 September 2015 (2015-09-24) (Hong Kong)
Running time
117 minutes[1]
CountriesHong Kong
China
LanguagesCantonese
Mandarin

Office is a 2015 Hong Kong-Chinese musical comedy-drama film produced and directed by Johnnie To and starring Chow Yun-fat, Sylvia Chang, Eason Chan and Tang Wei. The film is an adaptation of the 2008 play Design for Living, which was created by and starred Chang.[2][3] Office premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival[4] and was theatrically released in China on 2 September 2015 and in Hong Kong in 3D on 24 September 2015.[5][6]

Plot

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Billion-dollar company Jones & Sunn is going public. Chairman Ho Chung-ping (Chow Yun-fat) has promised CEO Winnie Cheung (Sylvia Chang), who has been his mistress for more than twenty years, that she will become a major shareholder of the company. As the IPO team enters the company to audit its accounts, a series of inside stories starts to be revealed.

Lee Xiang (Wang Ziyi), a new hire at Jones & Sunn, brings with him youthful ideals and dreams. Within the neoliberal market, the logic of intrigue rules, complicated by entanglements of love-hate relationships, which weaves a power play and a pathos-laden tragedy inside the office.

Cast

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Critical reception

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Office has received positive reviews. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times refers it as "One of the best-directed movies that you can see in New York right now".[7] Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club gave the film a score of B+ praising the film as dazzling and highlighting director Johnnie To's cutting movement and stunningly composed figures.[8] Tom Huddleston of Time Out gave the film a score of 5 out of 5 stars praising its stylish dance and song sequences, catchy lyrics and its screenplay by Sylvia Chang as a keenly observed, spiky treatise on office politics.[9]

James Marsh of Twitch Film gave the film a mixed review praising the imagination that the staging captures, but criticising the lack of development of Hong Kong's working development and director To's lack of vision and clear intent.[10] Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter praises the film's lavish decorations and technical accomplishments, but criticizes its simplistic screenplay and being unfocused, with little development of the relationships between the characters.[11]

Awards and nominations

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Awards and nominations
Ceremony Category Recipient Outcome
35th Hong Kong Film Awards[12] Best Actress Sylvia Chang Nominated
Best Art Direction William Chang, Alfred Yau Won
Best Makeup & Costume Design William Chang, Lui Fung-shan Nominated
Best Sound Design David Richardson, Andrew Tuason,
Wu Shu-yao 		Nominated
Best Visual Design Ken Law, Tommy Cheung Nominated
Best Original Film Score Lo Tayu, Keith Chan Fai-young Won
52nd Golden Horse Awards'[13] Best Actress Sylvia Chang Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Sylvia Chang Nominated
Best Art Direction William Chang, Alfred Yau Won
Best Makeup & Costume Design William Chang, Lui Fung-shan Nominated
Best Original Film Song Song: Why Bother (何必呢)

Composer: Lo Tayu
Lyricist: Lin Xi
Singer: Eason Chan

Nominated
Best Sound Effects Andrew Tuason, Wu Shu-yao,
David Richardson 		Nominated
22nd Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards[14] Best Film Office Nominated
Best Director Johnnie To Nominated
Best Actress Sylvia Chang Nominated
Film of Merit Office Won

References

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  1. ^ "TIFF.net - Office". Archived from the original on 31 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  2. ^ "Johnnie To To Reunite With Chow Yun-fat And Sylvia Chang For An Adaptation Of Design For Living".
  3. ^ "杜琪峰張艾嘉合作《華麗上班族》：職場與黑幫不同".
  4. ^ "Two Chinese movies to be screened at Toronto film festival". Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  5. ^ "《上班族》發預告 陳奕迅笑稱職場太玩命". Archived from the original on 20 September 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  6. ^ "[電影預告]《華麗上班族》(OFFICE)，9月24日，華麗獻映". YouTube.
  7. ^ Dargis, Manohla (17 September 2015). "Review: In 'Office' by Johnnie To, Ups and Downs of Business". The New York Times.
  8. ^ "Johnnie To's Office twists corporate intrigue into an inspired musical". The A.V. Club. 18 September 2015.
  9. ^ "Office, directed by Johnnie To Movie review - Time Out".
  10. ^ "Review: Johnnie To's OFFICE, Too Much Like Real Work".
  11. ^ "'Office' ('Hua Li Shang Ban Zu'/'Wa Lai Seung Ban Tsuk'): TIFF Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 4 September 2015.
  12. ^ "第35屆香港電影金像獎提名名單".
  13. ^ "2015 台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival".
  14. ^ "第二十二屆香港電影評論學會大獎得獎理由撮要".
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