Search - Chinese Chocolate on DVD

An chance for something good....wasted

qualuku | Beltsville, MD United States | 09/16/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I bought the movie because I'm into offbeat love stories, romances, true life dramas, etc. This was a waste. The characters, though sometimes interesting, are almost totally unlikable. The older Chinese woman seems at first to be halfway decent,only to turn into an adulterous opportunist trying to get a greencard. The younger girl is just pathetic, and all the other characters are scum. As far a romance....who cares? There's no way you care enough about them to even matter! And if you bought it thinking there was going to be a nice lesbian love bloom between the two women...keep waiting. Nice idea...lousey effort."

On Other Shores

Daitokuji31 | Black Glass | 04/24/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Chinese Chocolate is yet another film that I have rented without having heard of before. However, having just read Ha Jin's most recent, and massive, novel A Free Life, which details the life of one Chinese family that has just come to America, I decided to give the film, which depicts expatriate Chinese establishing roots in Toronto, a spin, and I must say that while the film was a bit slow and hokey at times, it was definitely worth the time it took to watch it.

Chinese Chocolate centers on the lives of two women: Camille, a doctor from Beijing who has come to join her husband in Canada and Jesse, a young woman who has come to Canada to study. Things begin to go wrong for the two women almost as soon as they arrive in Canada. Camille's husband, who came to Canada three years before her, is killed in a car accident on his way to the airport and later, Camille learns that he has been sleeping with another woman for two years. Jesse, who keeps 200 American dollars in a secret pocket in her panties, is a bit overwhelmed and quickly falls into an amorous relationship with a married Chinese professor named Henry. Both women fall in and fall out of a number of relationships, Camille eventually marries a Canadian and Jesse has a relationship with a waiter at a Chinese restaurant, but their happiness is fleeting in their new homeland.

At first glance, it seems that Chinese Chocolate is quite the misandristic film. White men appear to be nothing more than predatory, sexual animals who use women for sex and abandon them if the relationship becomes too intense. Chinese men appear to be wimps, who can't keep their pants up when their wives are safely back in China. However, there is more to the film than this. Its take on the long distance relationships is quite well done and also its depictions of new freedoms exploited. While definitely not a great film, Chinese Chocolate is worth a watch for those interested in film, literature, or history pertaining to overseas Chinese."

Quirky Movie With Super Hottie Diana Peng!

Timothy D. Taylor | Mesa, AZ | 03/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Not sure what the other two reviewers were expecting, but I enjoyed this movie. It was a little quirky and some of the situations were a little exagerated, but hey, it has the super HOT Diana Peng. Now, I was a little irked that they teased us with her being topless a couple of times, but all we ever got at most, was a side shot from the back, so you don't get the full monty, etc., but still, she is exquisite and just delicious to watch. The other actress goes topless, so you are at least rewarded somewhat. All in all, I enjoyed it for what it was. Worth a look!"