Heroes in Love
Reviewed by YTSL
Although Hong Kong has sometimes been referred
to as Hollywood East, I often see more salient differences than similarities
between two of the world’s largest movie producing territories. Among
these are the seemingly not even particularly conscious tendency, together
with easy ability, of many HKSAR film folks to frequently cross the line
between what might best be referred to as rarified -- or (deliberately
left) unpolished -- “art house” efforts and populist offerings whose natural
homes appear to be multiplexes (bar for the rare occasions that they make
it across the Pacific Ocean and actually get shown with their original
language- plus sound-tracks in the subtitle-phobic U.S.A.). To wit:
Can anyone really imagine someone like Harrison Ford or Arnold Schwarzenegger
producing -- as well as lending their name to -- the kind of works that
Jackie Chan (with “Rouge”, “Centre-Stage” and “Tempting Heart”) and Andy
Lau (with “Made in Hong Kong” and “The Longest Summer”) have done?
In any case, th(os)e Stanley Kwan, Sylvia Chang
and Fruit Chan directorial efforts come across as pretty mainstream works
when compared to this unconventional Gordon Chan and Jan Lamb co-production
that consists of: Four short films of varying length (plus quality);
three of which are helmed by first time directors (who all have made names
for themselves in other sectors of the entertainment industry); and one
of whose images are entirely culled from the other offerings that make
up HEROES IN LOVE. Frankly (and at the risk of sounding ageist!),
while I would have expected something like this from the director of “Out
of the Blur” and one section of “Four Faces of Eve” (as well as still young
media personality who probably remains best known as one half of the comedic
“Soft and Hard Core Kids” act), it came as quite a surprise to learn that
a middle-aged man whose directorial credits include “Fist of Legend”, “Beast
Cops” and “2000 A.D.” would have chosen to be associated with a movie whose
creative minds -- sometimes for worse as well as better -- seem to
have gone out of their way to bring into being something(s) “new”, “different”
and “refreshing” (See the “Gordon Chan’s Bold Foray...” section of the
2000-2001 “Hong Kong Panorama”).
For the record: That which constitutes the
first complete-unto-itself “chapter” of HEROES IN LOVE -- whose director,
Wing Shya, has been an advertising art director, Hong Kong Commercial Radio
creative director, music video director (for Gigi Leung) and stills photographer
(for Wong Kar Wai) -- is unquestionably its most unorthodox feeling.
While the 20 minute long “Kidnap” -- whose story centers on a not particularly
appealing tomboyish female (who is portrayed by Elegant Tong) whose way
of getting a girl she’s attracted to (who is played by Gloria Cheng) to
spend some time with -- and getting to better know -- her is by abducting
the object of her affection -- may have had some potential to intrigue,
this (re)viewer found its non-chronological and otherwise obscure as well
as experimental presentation style to be excruciatingly difficult to take
and enjoy.
It thus was with much relief that I greeted the
start of HEROES IN LOVE’s second section, one for which Nicholas Tse and
Stephen Fung shared directorial duties (and also co-scripting credits with
Patrick Kong). Unfortunately, this 25 minute long “short” -- whose
main character is a troubled young man with a gun fixation plus active
imagination that induces his favorite “Ejaculator”(!) to at times morph
into an “excitement”-seeking femme fatale -- also ended up being too determinedly
“different” for my liking. On a (more) positive note though:
I found it interesting that even while all four distinct portions of this
movie were lensed by O Sing Pui (and Tse and Fung’s somewhat surreal “My
Beloved” had the same art director -- Chau Siai-Hung -- as the segment
that’s helmed plus written by deejay, columnist cum scriptwriter and sometime
actress, GC Goo-Bi), that whose charismatic lead actor is either named
Por Wu or Wu Por (also) is noticeably the best -- in terms of its creative
yet controlled employment of such as different camera angles and film speeds
-- looking of the lot.
Having made it to the mid-point of this hitherto
disappointing movie, I decided that I might as well go ahead and finish
viewing the entire effort. Starting as it did with a rotating view
from what turned out to be the inside of a 7-11’s microwave oven, the third
“chapter” of HEROES IN LOVE initially promised to be yet another too off-beat
offering. Happily (at least for me) however, “Oh G!” soon effectively
settled down to become a quirky yet quite satisfying segment whose protagonists
(Lawrence Chou and Charlene Choi lend their first names to the two members
of the ICQ set who they play in this 30 minute long work) are no more heroic
than the pair of sad sacks who are this film’s other main personalities
but certainly do appear to be the most genuinely “in love” of those who
feature in this unexpectedly predominantly downbeat offering.
Saving the best for last (IMHO), HEROES IN LOVE
concludes with a five minute film directed -- and probably also written
plus narrated -- by Jan Lamb. “TBC” utilizes spliced-together images
that had been selectively gathered from this work’s three other “chapters”
and cleverly overlays them with an engrossing, meditative, first person
pronoun-filled soliloquy -- about whether it is generally more ideal to
be by oneself or with someone (else) -- that yet may actually sum up the
individual musings, regrets and statements of (future) intent of all the
young adults who were the movie’s main on-screen personalities. In
doing so, it seems to confirm that as important as it is for cinematic
offerings to be visually innovative, what they really need, in order for
their audiences to emotionally connect at some level with them, is to reach
out by doing such as communicating a compelling tale that people won’t
consider to be too alien(ating).
My rating for this film: A 3 (for chapter
1) + 4.5 (for chapter 2) + 7 (for chapter 3) + 8.5 (for chapter 4) averages
out into a 6 overall.