Nomimations
at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2001:
Best Director (Wilson Yip)
Best Actor (Francis Ng)
Best Supporting Actor (Simon Yam)
Award
at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards 2001:
Film of Merit
Judy's (Sandra Ng from Metade Fumaca) life is as close
to empty as you can come. A year earlier she was diagnosed
with breastcancer and had to remove one of her breasts. During
this difficult time her husband filed for divorce and today
all that remains of her family is her sick grandfather. She
works as a receptionist in a restaurant and there is where
she meets small time hoodlum Jordon, (Francis Ng from Bullets
Over Summer) who is trying to cheat his way into getting
a table at the restaurant. Their first meeting is short but
they're soon going to cross paths again.
Late
one evening Judy's grandfather is out walking and, in a moment
of carelessness, gets hit by a car and taken to the hospital.
Later the same evening Jordon is put in the bed next to him
after he's unable to pay back his debt to triadboss On (Simon
Yam from Bullet In The Head). Eventually Jordon gets
out of the hospital and right when he's about to leave On
enters, stabbed by his wife. In exchange for a reducement
of his debt On asks Jordon and Judy (who donated blood to
On) to look after his 6 month old baby boy (one of many children
On has with many different women). Under Judy's roof in a
temporary family environment, the two lonely souls become
closer to each other...
Can you heal a broken heart? That is the question director
Wilson Yip asks in this romantic drama. This movie shares
the central theme of Yips Bullets Over Summer, in other
words it's about people who find each other through similar
emotional scars. The young director handles this subject with
confidence and also this time he makes it a little more challenging
for us as an an audience. Some crucial moments in the film
are played out without any dialogue and it's up to us to know
these characters and their inner emotions to understand these
scenes fully.
Lam Wah
Chuen, the DP for Bullets Over Summer, has once again
been brought onboard and for the most part his photography
is held back and is very natural looking. Some scenes are
infused with a green colour scheme (like in the triads restaurant)
which honestly doesn't work for me but didn't ruin the movie
as a whole. The camerawork is also a bit inventive this time
around but it suits the story and is not overdone in any way.
The script
by Wilson Yip and Matt Chow is filled with both snappy and
beautiful dialogue and without that the direction wouldn't
have been as good as it is. It's obvious that Yips work as
a director becomes so much easier thanks to already well written
words. Now that I've seen some of his movies it becomes clear
that he's great at directing actors, something I think he
shares with the American director Paul Thomas Anderson.
This is just the second movie I've seen Francis Ng in but
he has quickly made quite an impression on me as an actor.
We don't really get to know his character until the later
stages in the movie, but when we do he seems like a man who
doesn't trust people very easily. When he tells Judy about
what happened to his family he still holds back and this scene
is really Francis finest hour. Very emotional and touching
stuff.
Sandra
Ng (no relation to Francis) was an actress I've never seen
before but she didn't fail to gain my respect. Her acting
is more subtle but she doesn't need to say too many words
for us to know what she has been through. Her scenes together
with Francis Ng are so well acted and I think with another
director the scenes wouldn't approach the heights we see here.
It's a damn shame that she wasn't even nominated for a Best
Actress Hong Kong Film Award that year. She deserved at least
that.
In a
supporting part we see veteran actor Simon Yam and he once
again shows what great skill he has and that he is one hell
of a versatile actor. Eric Kot (from You Shoot, I Shoot)
also pops up as Judy's driving instructor but also one of
her few friends in this world. At first glance I felt their
scenes together didn't fit the but after some thinking I clearly
saw how well they fitted into the movies structure.
The last act of the movie has some scenes that at first viewing
felt a bit too abstract and symbolic but now that I've seen
the movie 3 times I think I see what Yip wanted with this.
To me, it's up to the viewer to interpret the final events
of the movie and it's actually a very good thing. As I said
this may be more apparent upon subsequent viewings not the
first one.
Wilson
Yip has learned a lot since Bullets Over Summer and
it's a very touching and well made drama he has made here.
The DVD:
The Mei Ah dvd presents Juliet In Love in
the original aspect ratio 1.85:1. Being struck only a few
months after it's theatrical release I expected the print
to be a little bit better. Colours are good and vibrant but
there are signs of edge enhancement in some scenes. Pixelation
rears it's ugly head on a few occasions and there's also a
fair number of print defects here and there. Detail and black
level are pretty good though. It's a a good print but a few
things could've been slightly better.
Like other Mei Ah discs we get four audio options. The original
Cantonese track in Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 and the same
for the Mandarin dub.The 2.0 track is very centered but doesn't
have to be more spread out as far as I'm concerned. In this
movie dialogue is more important that aspect is presented
well. The soothing music score does work it's way between
the left and front speakers though.
The English subtitles has it's fair share of spelling errors
but not the point where you're wondering what's going on.
As usual traditional and simplified Chinese subtitles are
included.
The extras consists of what Mei Ah usually does. We get the
theatrical trailer (which still has the original title Butterfly
Lovers), a trailer for the Chow Yun-Fat film Peace
Hotel, plot synopsis and a list of the most essential
cast & crew.
reviewed by Kenneth
Brorsson
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