The Random Harvest

While on business, tycoon Lee Chi-wan (Yam Kim-fai) is knocked unconscious while being robbed by a dismissed servant. He goes missing with memory loss, but he is saved by maid Yuet-mui (Law Yim-hing), who nurses him back to health. The two eventually marry and have a daughter named Fa (Fung Bo-bo). However, when Chi-wan slips and hits his head again after being bullied by mischievous boys in the village one day, he regains his old memories and ends up forgetting his wife and daughter. 

Using ‘memory loss’ as his theme, Lung To composes a twisty love song that is clearly influenced by Hollywood film Random Harvest (1942), to the point taking its name for the film’s English title. Interestingly, director Wong Jing wrote in his memoir that he inserted memory loss in his film God of Gamblers (1989) because he found The Random Harvest to be a beautiful story. When put into the hands of great actors, even the most bizarre plot twists can be wonderful. Fung Bo-bo doesn’t have a lot of screen time, but her cute persona steals every scene. Yam Kim-fai moves seamlessly between her character’s double personality before and after memory loss, playing a smart businessman as well as a foolish homeless man. This is truly a masterclass of Yam Kim-fai’s acting talent.

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