2020:
Having seen Esprit D'amour (also reviewed) in 2019, and having no luck at all when trying to find The Other Side of Gentleman, (also reviewed) I decided to ask round about the third title by film maker Ringo Lam, which led to me being pointed to a site that had the movie, with English Subtitles that were completely out of synch.
2023:
Remaining frustrated since the failed 2020 viewing,I was excited to find that along with English Subtitles turning up for his second film, that they had also appeared for this movie, which led to me finally discovering where Cupid's arrow went.
View on the film:
Note: review contains some plot details.
Setting out to the high seas of his Heroic Bloodshed future, co-writer (with Wellington Fung, who also co-stars) / directing auteur Ringo Lam & his occasional collaborator cinematographer Kwong-Hung Joe Chan go across the ocean with extended, ultra-stylized, fluid hand-held camera moves under neon lights, gliding Yee-Ching and Keung towards the boat and glossy wide-shots which cast a Rom-Com atmosphere over their travels, which Lam snaps with thrilling, clearly illegally filmed (a number of the public look directly into the camera) tracking shots (a major recurring motif in Lam's works) that crash on the waves of Keung and Yee-Ching's romance.
Sailing into his second screen credit, Mark Cheng gives a great performance as Keung, with Cheng expressing the angry young man loner frustrations building up within Keung, which are paused, by the arrival of an unexpected shipmate.
Attempting to stay undercover via sleeping in the ships cabin, Sally Yeh (who would later work with fellow Heroic Bloodshed auteur John Woo on The Killer-also reviewed) gives a hilarious performance as Yee-Ching, thanks to Yeh sparkling in the physical comedy meet-cute that takes Yee-Ching out of her comfort zone, with Yeh capturing Yee-Ching's curiosity about Keung, during their long voyage.
Making his (co-writing) debut, the screenplay by Lam and Fung tie Yee-Ching and Keung to the ship as a Rom-Com odd couple, whose romantic spark is ignited by the writers with amusing mishaps that leave Keung and Yee-Ching seeing each other naked, and then scrambling to make excuses and grab their clothes, whilst finding themselves to take their eyes off each-other.
Ending this Romance-focused period of Lam's, the writers take the melancholy endings of Lam's earlier films, and superbly heighten the tragedy, to the point that it spills out onto the streets, as the bell tolls for Keung and Yee-Ching.
