First Love Unlimited
Reviewed by YTSL
Before I -- who at least one friend has accused
of being the least romantic person in the entire world! -- proceed to give
my own positive comments and opinions about the very pleasing 1997 romance
that stars Gigi Leung and Daniel Chan that I recently viewed, here’s reporting
what a trio of Hong Kong-based professional critics have written about
this Shu Kei produced effort (See <http://filmcritics.org.hk/firstloveunlimited/review.html>):-
“A continuous string of realistic memories of
love relationships propels the film's narrative. It's akin to [director
Joe] Ma's previous “Over the Rainbow Under the Skirt”, but with a weltanschauung
that is even more pure and innocent” -- Ye Nianchen. “The film is
particularly outstanding in portraying parental concern and understanding”
-- Thomas Shin. “When the feeling's good, what does it matter if
the story's shop-worn and the plot is passé ? Or even naive
and childish? After all, isn't first love something simple and straightforward?.
. .Great casting, with an endearing performance from the entire cast that
deftly captures the "s/he loves me, s/he loves me not" quality of puppy
love, the film exudes all the charms of youth” -- ManAlone Ho.
FIRST LOVE UNLIMITED is one of what must by now
be a countless amount of movies that center on a boy from the wrong side
of the tracks and an almost unbelievably good girl meeting and falling
in love with each other. Thus the very fact that it managed to be
not only captivatingly compelling throughout but also actually feel quite
“new” in significant ways and parts is something that stands as a pretty
wonderful testament to the Joe Ma and Matt Chow co-scripted film’s cast
and crew. What’s maybe even more special as far as this (re)viewer
is concerned is that -- much like with another quality romantic offering
in which Gigi Leung appears (i.e., Sylvia Chang’s “Tempting Heart”) --
by dint of its makers seeming to be so sincerely wearing their hearts on
their sleeves, what might otherwise come across as cloying or corny ended
up striking me as touchingly -- and not at all sickly -- sweet.
Something else which surely helped prevent FIRST
LOVE UNLIMITED from becoming a cliché-filled work in the tradition
of the 1970s Taiwanese weepies that starred a simply adorable Brigitte
Lin Ching-Hsia and the likes of Chin Han, Charlie Chin and Alan Tang is
that neither of the young protagonists’ parents were particularly awful
(and entirely disapproving of their children’s somewhat unexpected choice
of first love). Indeed, I’d go so far as to suggest that it constituted
at least minor strokes of genius for: the first major loving relationship
shown in the film to be that between a mother and daughter; this extremely
caring mother to have the -- novel for a motherly type -- physical appearance
that she has (and be played by Tina Lau Tin Lam, whose other most significant
credit may well be as “Love Massacre”’s assistant director); and there
being that beautifully shot and edited opening sequence that showed that
well nurtured daughter developing from a really young child into the elite
high school student named Stephanie who’s known to her friends as Tap (and
portrayed by Gigi Leung).
In his corresponding role as the single parent
of Gai Hong (the love-struck, than -lorn, boy who’s winsomely essayed by
Daniel Chan) and his lesbian younger sister (whose reaction to his girlfriend
is a precursor to the funny moments that ensue in that section of the movie
in which Tap pays her first visit to her boyfriend’s home), veteran actor
Ricky Hui successfully contributes some warmth, tenderness and a bit of
drama along with comic relief to FIRST LOVE UNLIMITED. With regards
to the well-acted work’s other salient support performers: Wyman Wong does
much better with a role -- that of Gai Hong’s best friend, the strangely
monikered Mimi -- that surely would have been an incredibly annoying one
if it had been played by, say, the equally close-cropped haired Eric Kot;
and Stephen Fung came across as appropriately considerate as well as straight-arrow
in his part as Tap’s big brother figure, Chris. Additionally, Joyce
Chan -- as the extroverted Angie -- plus the actress who played the quieter
Belle convinced as the kind of gal pals whose company the squeaky clean
plus cute Tap would enjoy and keep; Vincent Kuk makes his “Fatty” character
an interesting presence, if not personality; and Lee Siu Kei puts in a
quite touching appearance as Mimi’s amusement park security guard father.
Ultimately though, FIRST LOVE UNLIMITED belongs
to -- and was made as greatly agreeable as it was for me by its leads coming
in the form of -- Gigi Leung (who was given ample opportunity to display
her quiet but nonetheless very effective charm in this movie), and Daniel
Chan (who showed that his nominated for HKFA Best Newcomer performance
in “Hu-Du-Men” was not a one-time deal). This fan of the Lanky One
would also suggest that the particular production which its main actress
had identified a few years back as “my best film, even though it’s a very
simple story, with no stars, no Andy Lau, no Stephen Chiau...”, and not
least because “that’s (really) me” in it (See Miles Wood’s “Cine East”,
1998:88), is as immensely watchable as it is as a consequence of its makers
very obviously having sweated the details (that include ensuring that the
offering’s theme song got sung at appropriately varying levels of quality
by Tap in rehearsal, Tap in concert, and real-life Cantopop idol Gigi at
the conclusion of the movie). At the very least, their actions ensured
that this good natured effort rose way above its genre constraints to become
a work that even the infamously curmudgeonly Paul Fonoroff conceded was
“palatable and frequently enjoyable” (See his “At the Hong Kong Movies”,
1998:621).
My rating for this film: 8.5