Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Edifício do Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais, Macau

After Yan has dropped off Ma for his court date, the next shot shows him walking up the steps of the Edifício do Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais (aka Leal Senado building) on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro. And with this post I think we can consider Isabella more or less done.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Derby Road, Kowloon Tsai

Another of the Hong Kong-shot scenes from this film occurs at the end as Yan gives Ma a lift to his court date on the back of her scooter. The scene starts on Derby Road with "Scholar's Lodge" on the right, and the old, art-deco wall of #4 Derby Road on the left. After a edit, the scooter then appears not too far away on Chester Road in front of #8 (on the east side of the square) and as they round the crner we know see the other side of #4 Derby Road with scaffolding over it. Given that #4 has been empty for many years and currently has no windows (this is Stage 1 of the tried-and-tested developers' method of demolition - remove all the windows so that Mother Nature renders the building unstable and less likely to attract the attention of the local Antiquities and Monuments Office), it looks like the film maker may have inadvertantly filmed the moment that the windows were all being removed.

Derby Road

Chester Road

Chester Road again with #4 Derby Road back left

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Travessa do Padre Narciso, Macau

Here's a location that I inadvertantly missed when initially writing about Travessa do Padre Narciso. This is the apartment block where Ma supposedly lives. I can't vouch for the interior but some later scenes as Yan's school friend approaches Ma outside the front door and when he can be seen smoking on the balcony were filmed on a little side alleyway off Travessa do Padre Narciso. I have no idea if the small street or building has a name but it's been spruced up significantly since Isabella was filmed.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Pátio do Espinho, Macau

Whilst being chased from the Avenida da Praia in Taipa by some gangsters, the pair run up some steps nearby. In fact, the real location in the film is back on the Macau peninsula on Rua Dom Belchior Caneiro. If you look closely you can see the street sign says "Pátio do Espinho" and that is the name of the small terrace that the pair try to escape through. The giveaway is the presence of the St Paul's church facade in the background of the second image.

Actually, we see this location twice in the film because it was also featured in one of the flashbacks when a young Yan and her mum witness Ma, as a younger corrupt cop, beating up someone on the street corner (see lower images).

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Avenida da Praia, Taipa

The pair hang out next to the famous "Taipa Houses Museum" when they are sudddenly chased by some local gangsters who want to speak with Ma.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Escola do Santíssimo Rosário, Macau

This is the school building where Yan sits down with the school friend who has a big crush on her and makes up some more stories about running away with her criminal boyfriend. The school is fronted by the Comissao Da Juventude Da Associacao Ho Song-I-Tong (aka Ho Clan Association building) along Rua De S. Paulo, right next door to Travessa da Paixão.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Rua de São Lourenço, Macau

The street corner where Ma is stopped by his boss (Anthony Wong) waiting in a car is where Rua de S. Lourenço joins with Travessa do Padre Narciso. The artdeco styled building they are standing next to is the Instituto Salesiano, a local middle school.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Fortaleza da Guia, Macau

Not the first time this place has appeared on the blog, although I am surprised I haven't seen it more often given its prominence in Macau and the fact that it's one of the more popular tourist locations. Anyway, this is where the pair go for a bit of bonding and they go inside the lightnhouse and look through the lens.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

Several scenes in the film were also shot at Nam Sang Wai in Yuen Long. The area around what is marked on the map as "The Wedding Bridge" (I can only assume because it is popular for wedding shoots) features in the car crash scene where Ma tricks Yan into thinking her dog was killed in the accident, as well as a later scene when Ma throws his illegally acquired revolver into the water following his decision to face his wrongdoings.

Ma examines the dog

Shan Pui Village in the distance

Ma disposing of the gun 

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Rua de Santo António, Macau

This is the street where Ma and Yan practice smashing beer bottles on a kerbside bollard before the shop owner chases them away. According to Mamiko Oke's post on FLICKR (a great resource by the way for local and Japanese films), it was in front of the antique coin shop (right side of frame).

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Rua dos Clérigos, Taipa

 Another one of the locations where Yan pastes the missing posters for her dog is Rua dos Clérigos. It's just around the corner from Largo Maia de Magalhães.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Jardim do Carmo, Taipa

After helping the little girl up the steps with her dog, Yan sits down and spends time with them both at the top in the Jardim do Carmo. I remember playing with that spherical cage roundabout with my kids when they were younger (probably not long after this was filmed). I have no idea if it's still there though.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Calçada Do Carmo, Taipa

This is the set of steps that Yan follows the little girl up and helps her with her dog. We've been here before for China Cry and The Canton Godfather (aka Canton and the Lady Rose) but for those films the lane was just a cobbled slope. These days, as you can see below, steps have been installed.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Rua Direita Carlos Eugénio, Taipa

The small street where Yan sees a girl with her old dog, Isabella, is Rua Direita Carlos Eugénio in Taipa. The exact location is where Travessa da Boa Vista joins the road. You can see the steps of the latter in the second image below.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Travessa da Paixão, Macau

Part of the pair's drunken night out includes running up the Travessa da Paixão and shouting at the top of their lungs. This place has been seen before on the blog.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Campo Desportivo E Recreativo Do Carmo, Taipa

The location where Ma teaches Yan how to ride a scooter was filmed on the then undeveloped football pitch of the Carmo Sports and Recreation field. The massive development of the Cotai Strip behind them means the view over to the Macau East Asian Games Dome (you can see it in the left background of the top image) is now completely blocked with the various monstrous casino resorts that sprang up not long after filming.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - former British Military Hospital, Bowen Road

I know I said that Isabella was set and filmed in Macau but I should point out that some scenes were filmed in Hong Kong and this is one of them. It's the former British Military Hospital on Bowen Road, and in the film it's the clinic where Yan's mum goes (with a young Ma) as a pregnant teenager to undergo an abortion. There is a flashback scene early in the film that partially sets the present circumstances and Ma goes back later, as a grown man, to remember what happened on that day.

Anyway, the clue to identifying this location is the granite ledges and bases built into the brick columns - these appear to be quite unique to the BMH. These days, the BMH is largely occupied by the Carmel School - Hong Kong's only Jewish school, apparently.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Largo Maia de Magalhães, Taipa

More missing posters for the dog as Yan pastes one up on a wall in Largo Maia de Magalhães in Taipa village.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Rua Nova de S. Lázaro, Macau

The pair start posting "missing" flyers around Macau in an effort to locate Yan's dog, Isabella. The first place they go to is Rua Nova de S. Lázaro. This is also the same street, later on in the film, where the pair drunkenly run after being chased away from a shop front for smashing beer bottles. The building they run alongside is a row of old townhouses that are looking a bit dilapidated in the film but have since undergone a nice renovation that has also fixed up the wooden windows.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Fabrica de Panchoes Iec Long, Taipa

Probably one of Taipa's more famous sites but we rarely get to have a peek inside the compound because it is closed for the most part. Lucky for us that this is the "park" where they go to look for Yan's dog, Isabella. I wrote a small post about this place many year ago on my other blog but I haven't been able to get to Macau for many years now (my last visit was in 2016) so have no idea what has become of the place.