| SYNOPSIS:
Ambitious
Sun Na (Zhou Xun) who was born into a poor family became a
successful actress through unscrupulous means. A decade later,
two men appeared in her life - an old flame, Jian Dong (Takeshi
Kaneshiro) who's now a movie star and a renowned director,
Nie Wen (Jacky Cheung) who's her current boyfriend. As the
reel and real life entangle, the three gets entrenched in
a love triangle...
MOVIE
REVIEW :
It has
been decades since we last saw a Chinese musical. Not since
the early fifties and sixties as far as I can remember. I
can still vaguely recall those dancing, romance Shaw classics
showing on television when I was a little kid.
Coming
from the hands of renowned director Peter Chan after his hiatus
of nine years, “Perhaps Love” is sort of a revival
to that wonderful era. Netting an international cast that
includes Jacky Cheung, Japanese heart-throb Takeshi Kaneshiro,
upcoming star Zhou Xun from China and Korean Ji Jin-Hee. Not
to forget, an ensemble of acclaimed crew that comprises award-winning
cinematographers Peter Pau and Christopher Doyle, acclaimed
dance choreographer Farah Khan from Bollywood.
Yes,
you might feel slightly out-of-place or uncomfortable in the
opening sequence when the actor suddenly breaks into a song
and dance routine. It’s loud. It’s exhilarating.
It’s bursting with energy. But this is just a warm-up
to what’s going to follow next. The real gem in fact
is to uncover the turbulent relationship between Cheung, Zhou
and Takeshi spreading across a time span of 10 years.
The
story is unique in a way as it cuts to and fro, bringing the
audience from one dimension to another, apparently the screenwriters
feel it’s more justifiable to showcase the actors in
a movie-within-a-movie to bring out the intensity of the burning
love-hate desires of the three. If there’s one actor
that deserves to be mentioned, it’s Jacky Cheung. Cheung’s
singing skill is emotionally powerful enough to convey tinge
of sadness across several solo song segments, making him the
most outstanding cast above all. To be fair, Takeshi who has
matured as an actor over the years gave a heart-wrenching
performance as the devoted lover, Jian Dong.
Strip
away the musical routines and song segments, “Perhaps
Love” is essentially an emotionally driven movie about
unrequited love. However, with the magical touch director
Peter Chan and his team of screenwriters and songwriters had,
this run-out-of-mill tale have been transformed into something
so refreshing and mesmerising that makes it one of the must-watch
Chinese movies of 2005.
SPECIAL
FEATURES :
There's a 15 minutes making of special that is perhaps
aimed at the American or European market with it's slick English
narration. Covering the dance choreography, music composition
and interviews with the cast and crew. It's a nice and short
introduction to the world of "Perhaps Love" before
you embarked on the journey.
AUDIO:
The
DVD comes with Chinese 5.1 Dolby Digital. The surround sound
makes it a joy to submerge yourself in the rowdy, musical
segments. And it's always a plus to listen to the original
recording of the actors' voice save for Jacky Cheung. Cheung
who has quite a good command of the Chinese language is surprisngly
being dubbed here. Fortunately, not inclusive of the song
segments. Relieve!
VISUAL:
Shot
on pretty heavy tones and dark shades for most parts, "Perhaps
Love" is a good example of showcasing contrasting colours.
You can have an array of colourful tones in one scene and
a pure white snowy background in the next. It's a visual treat
unlike others.
MOVIE
RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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