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Perhaps Love - Sydney Film Festival Film Review
June 18th 2006 03:18
Perhaps Love poster
I'm even guilty of it myself - I wrote a script for a film called Prenez Vos Places, a French/English movie about two guys that make a movie. It was weirdly self-referential, and we felt really clever using the movie to mimick real life.
And that's just it. Self-referential humour and drama is big these days, from great films like Adaptation, or musicals like Moulin Rouge, and the public loves to feel like we're on the inside of an inside joke.
Last Friday, the Sydney Film Festival screened Perhaps Love, a love-triangle in a movie-within-a-movie flick from Hong Kong, at the opulent State Theatre. I waddled quickly to buy tickets, and even though I was sitting high in the 'Dress Circle', I enjoyed the event immensely.
The director, Peter Ho-Sun Chan, answered questions after the show, and while he's not the most interesting speaker, he did offer some insights into the motivation behind the film.
As you might guess, love is at the centre of this film, and while ridiculously-good-looking movie reviewers like me are so tediously bored with love in film, when it's done right, it can almost be as satisfying as grilling your own T-bone.
And while I can rarely get satisfaction OR girlie action (though I try), Perhaps Love is a mesmerizing, haunting picture that will stick with you - especially when it doesn't end in a fairy tale-style happy ending.
The film casts 4 main actors: famed Cantonese singer Jacky Cheung, Japanese/Chinese actor Takeshi Kaneshiuro, stunning Chinese film star Zhou Xun and Korean actor Ji Jin-Hee.
Zhou Xun is best remembered in English countries for her tremendous spirit in the film adaptation of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, where, admittedly, I didn't think she looked that good.
What do I know? A recent newspaper poll in China revealed that the Chinese think she is the third most beautiful woman in China - big props considering the size of that pool - 1/2 of 1.3 billion people.
Zhou Xun
In Perhaps Love, Xun plays a remarkable role that shows her to be as cold and unfeeling as a Terracotta warrior, but, at times, cute and warmly passionate.
And I'll admit it, Takeshi Kaneshiuro is a damn good-looking man, although in this film, he borders on effeminate. He was pretty ruff and tuff in the truly excerable House of Flying Daggers.
Takeshi Kaneshiuro
I should mention that director Peter Ho-Sun Chan made Perhaps Love to be the first Chinese musical - Broadway-style musical, that is, and it feels incongruous at times.
While the music may be forgettable, the dance sequences are outstanding... as well they should, as the dance choreographer was Bollywood's Farah Khan. And it feels a little Bollywood up in here, up in here.
Is this film just a mash of jagged pieces that don't quite go together?
Well, at its fundamental level, Perhaps Love is about the human condition, and feels incredibly real, while showing off the bright lights and fancy costumes of a lavish movie production. It all shoots by, like streaking meteors over your head, and you'd love to press pause to catch your breath.
Best explained:
"The result certainly feels real; love is composed of affection, sacrifice, selfishness, hate, possessiveness, and plenty of other counseling-worthy emotions, and Perhaps Love covers this territory with sometimes heartbreaking effectiveness."
Yes... Ho-Sun Chan shows us the bitterness that accompanies love, and rarely do we have a chance to admire or feel happy for any of the characters in the film. In fact, the existance of love in this film serves only to push them to do bad things, reminding us that love isn't all cotton candy and gumdrops. No, Perhaps Love rudely teaches us that love can be the blunt razor edge, slicing jagged tears in our flesh as we struggle to swim to the surface.
* the image of the Perhaps Love movie poster is a copyrighted image but is used to provide review and commentary on the film, which qualifies under fair dealing use in Australia.
The image of Zhou Xun was published in China, and has no copyright status in Australia.
The image of Takeshi Kaneshiuro was taken from his Wikipedia page and is a copyrighted image, but its creator allows use of the image.
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Comment by Bunbury
Comment by Cibbuano
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I guess the movie wasn't very popular in China, though...
Comment by Bunbury
It's not popular in China? I thought it would be since Zhou Xun is in it. I thought it was funny the Director said that he chose Takeshi cos he was the only person who was acceptable to cry on screen to a Chinese audience haha.
Comment by Cibbuano
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I don't think the musical part went over well in China... and though Zhou Xun is in it, maybe the Chinese audiences didn't like the part she played. It's pretty far from the cute Sichuan girl in The Little Chinese Seamstress.
Comment by Trina
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