''Office'' is a 2015 Hong Kong-Chinese

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film produced and directed by

Johnnie To Johnnie To Kei-fung (born 22 April 1955) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and film producer. Popular in his native Hong Kong, To has also found acclaim overseas. Intensely prolific, To has made films in a variety of genres, though in ...

and starring

Chow Yun-fat Chow Yun-fat (born 18 May 1955), previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor. He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with filmmaker John Woo in the five Hong Kong action heroic bloodshed films: ''A Better Tomorrow'', ''A Be ...

Sylvia Chang Sylvia Chang (born 21 July 1953) is a Taiwanese actress, writer, singer, producer and director. In 1992, she was a member of the jury at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival. In 2018, she was one of the jury members of the main competition ...

Eason Chan Eason Chan Yick Shun (born 27 July 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Chan was ranked sixth in the 2013 Forbes China Celebrity Top 100 List. In 2006 Chan's Cantonese album ''U87'' was named one of ''Time'' magazine's "Five Asian Albums W ...

and

Tang Wei use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

. The film is an adaptation of the 2008 play ''Design for Living'', which was created by and starred Chang. ''Office'' premiered at the

2015 Toronto International Film Festival The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's ''Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naom ...

and was theatrically released in China on 2 September 2015 and in Hong Kong in 3D on 24 September 2015.

Plot

Billion-dollar company Jones & Sunn is going public. Chairman Ho Chung-ping (

) has promised CEO Winnie Cheung (

), 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

as Ho Chung-ping (何仲平) *

as Winnie Cheung (張威) *

as David Wong (王大偉) *

as Sophie (蘇菲) *Wang Ziyi as Lee Xiang (李想) *Lang Yueting as Kat Ho (何琪琪) *

Cheung Siu-fai Cheung Siu-fai (; born 4 February 1963), also known as Eddie Cheung, is a Hong Kong actor. He is best known for his many supporting or everyman roles similar to Liu Kai-chi Dick Liu Kai-chi (, 30 September 1953 – 28 March 2021) was a Hon ...

as John Suen (孫強) *

Tien Hsin Tien Hsin (; born Wu Tien-hsin on November 11, 1975) is a Taiwanese actress, television host and singer. She won a Golden Bell Award for Best Leading Actress in a Television Series in 2011 for the drama series ''Who's the One''. Personal lif ...

as Ka-ling (嘉玲) *

Timmy Hung Timmy Hung Tin-ming (born 1 July 1974) is a Hong Kong actor. He is the eldest son of Sammo Hung. Background He was born in Hong Kong as the eldest son of martial arts superstar Sammo Hung and Sammo's Korean first wife Jo Eun-ok (曹恩玉). His ...

as Howard (浩浩) *

Stephanie Che Stephanie Che Yuen Yuen (born 28 December 1974) is a Hong Kong actress and singer. Che started her career as the winner of New Talent Singing Awards New Talent Singing Awards (Traditional Chinese: 新秀歌唱大賽) or ''NTSA'' for short, ...

as Ban-ban (班班) *Mickey Chu as Shum Hoi (沈凱) *Mimi Kung as Mrs. Ho (何太太) *

Lo Hoi-pang Lo Hoi-pang (born 21 December 1941) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Lo attended TVB's Training Classes in 1973. Among his classmates are Chow Yun-fat and Ng Man-tat. Lo won the 2012 31st Hong Kong Film Awards for the Best Supporting Actor c ...

as Jones & Sunn security guard

Critical reception

''Office'' has received positive reviews.

Manohla Dargis Manohla June Dargis () is an American film critic. She is one of the chief film critics for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Career Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times'', ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' refers it as "One of the best-directed movies that you can see in New York right now". Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the film a score of B+ praising the film as dazzling and highlighting director

's cutting movement and stunningly composed figures. 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

as a keenly observed, spiky treatise on office politics. James Marsh of ''

Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

'' 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. Clarence Tsui of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' 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.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Office
{{MilkywayImage 2015 films 2015 3D films 2010s musical comedy-drama films Hong Kong comedy-drama films Hong Kong 3D films 2010s Cantonese-language films Films directed by Johnnie To Films based on musicals Media Asia films Milkyway Image films Films set in 2008 Films set in Hong Kong Films shot in Hong Kong Chinese musical comedy-drama films Chinese 3D films 2015 comedy films 2015 drama films 2010s Mandarin-language films 2010s Hong Kong films