SYNOPSIS:
A
traffic warden Yang Le falls in love with a nursery teacher
Xiao You at the first sight. Soon, Yang Le learns that Xiao
Yu has hearing impairment and difficulty in speech. At the
same time, Xiao Yu's stepbrother Fukuda Makoto becomes a temporary
interpreter for a Japanese actress, Mizuno Yuko. Affections
grow between them but Mizuno is about to leave for Japan.
Will these two obstacles-filled love stories have a fairy
tale ending?
MOVIE REVIEW:
At the risk of having readers think that I’m a softie,
I shall admit how much I love tearjerkers, especially if there
are obstacles like opposing parents, terminal diseases, disabilities
and deaths involved. As long as there is any indication of
tragedy involved, you can be sure I’ll dig the stuff.
So
when this blandly-titled movie (truth be told, the disc cover
does not look the least bit interesting) reached my hands,
I actually put my heart into viewing the entire picture with
the intention of loving every second of its 96-minute runtime.
And I was left satisfied.
Jingle
Ma (Happy Birthday, Seoul Raiders) directs teenage heartthrob
Shawn Yue, porcelain beauty Gao Yuanyuan, earnest-looking
Takuya Suzuki and pixie-like Miyake Nao in this picturesque
film about two couples overcoming obstacles to attain eternal
happiness.
Yue
plays a traffic warden who falls in love with a hearing impaired
girl played by Gao. They fall in love, get married despite
her father’s objections, and she bears a child for him.
But oh, the tragedy of life, it makes us sad – the poor
girl may die if she wants to have the child.
Meanwhile,
Suzuki plays a Japanese translator for Nao’s popular
actress shooting a film in China. They should have known -
two people from two vastly different worlds will face all
sorts of problems falling in love.
And
my favorite line from this movie has to be this: “The
best ending would be for both of us to let go”. How
reflective of life indeed.
Predictably
tear-inducing storylines aside, this movie produced by Stanley
Tong (The Myth, China Strike Force) is one of the most romantically-shot
love stories I have ever seen. The landscape and gorgeous
sceneries of China’s Dali, Yunnan Province is captured
beautifully on lens, thanks to Ma’s cinematography.
While
watching the film, you’d be treated to a visual feast
of awe-inspiring images, you’d be touched by the uplifting
stories about love, and most notably, you’d have tears
welled up in your eyes – whether you are a softie or
not.
MOVIE RATING:
Review
by John Li
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