Yen Sun-lun for the Taipei Times wrote, "Unfortunately, the film has turned out to be a colourful and beautiful picture that looks like an extended version of a music video. It may be creative in creating characters and plot for the originally thinly-plotted illustration book and the performances are on the whole OK, but the result is less than the sum of its parts."[1] Ken Eisner for Variety wrote, "Tale of overlapping love stories, “Sound of Colors” finally lacks the complexity or zip to make it shine as brightly as it otherwise could."[2] Chan Ka-ming for the Hong Kong Film Critics Society said, "Granted there is some Joe Ma humour, but the tumbling pursuit is nothing but the channeling of Wong Kar-wai."[3]
Analysis
賓尼 for the Hong Kong Film Critics Society wrote that the film's happy ending differs from other films of the period, whose cynical themes act as a reflection of Hong Kong's anxieties of the post 1997 Hong Kong Handover. The author noted the parallels of the two romances as a larger examination of gender dynamics in Hong Kong and Cross-Strait relations. Specifically, the author noted Ho's sudden blindness as a loss of confidence by men in Hong Kong following recent economic turmoil. This is contrasted with Cheung's confidence as a blind person as a reflection of the rising social standing of women in Hong Kong. Alternatively, Zhong Cheng and Dong Lie's successful romance as lovers from different countries is wishful thinking of improved relations between China and Taiwan.[4]