Summer Breeze of Love
What can I say? The Twins! They are like human
Hello Kitty toys waiting to be hugged. They are like cotton candy waiting
to be eaten. They are like fluffy socks waiting to be folded. They are
like warm soup waiting to be slurped. They are like downy comforters waiting
to be crushed. They are The Twins. The biggest, most popular and headiest
rush to hit Hong Kong since opium arrived in China back in the 1800’s.
They took over Hong Kong faster than the Japanese did in 1941 and plan
on occupying it longer.
They are everywhere and everything. Every magazine,
TV show, street corner, phone booth and triad hangout is blazoned with
images of the Twins. Twin T-shirts, lunchboxes, cell phones, soap, tissue,
heroin, rings, lighters, shampoo, champagne, missile launchers are all
on sale in Temple Market with a picture of the smiling Twins saying “buy
me”. Perhaps their Twin condom ads (“try me on for size” and “are you man
enough to do it twice?”) seemed to be going a bit far – but in Hong Kong
there is no telling how far the Twins can go. Whether they are here to
stay or their popularity is as fleeting as Mona Lisa’a smile is hard to
judge at this point.
So just who are The Twins? I don’t honestly have
a clue. I had made a conscious point of avoiding reading anything on them,
but sooner or later everyone is sucked into the vortex of their PR machine.
Like the film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, one morning we woke up
and they were just there and every girl in Hong Kong had to be like them,
had to dress like them and had to eat like them (favorite food – crackers
and chocolate). After extensive research (I checked one web
site), it appears that they were models that the great Idol in the
sky plucked out of obscurity and made into pop superstars.
There are two of them to no surprise – Gill and
Sa or their English names Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung – but shockingly
they are not twins! Not even related. I feel so exploited. They don’t even
look much alike except they are both short and fluffy. I don’t even know
if they were friends (or are friends). This was a better marketing job
than Moses convincing the slaves to cross the desert (we have no food or
drink but trust me). They put out five albums – all became platinum, did
sold out stage shows, crossed over to film (Charlene in Heroes in Love
and Funeral March; Gillian in U-Man) and have had more web space devoted
to them than to Princess Diana and Anna Kournakova combined. Now they finally
appear in a film together for the first time and the cinematic world holds
its collective breath. Could they be the next Robert Redford/Paul Newman,
Chow Yun Fat/Danny Lee, Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor, Mickey/Minnie?
Well not exactly. Still, I have to admit that
though I came into this movie ready to smirk all the way through – damn
if I didn’t find them quite adorable and endearing. I don’t know if in
real life they are cocaine snorting head freaks who enjoy paddling each
other in private – but on the screen they come across as just the sweetest
teenagers in the world with just enough sass and young sex appeal to not
be cloying or annoying. They play two very ordinary teenagers who feel
the pangs of first love crawl up their leg and bury itself in their stomach.
It seems that director Joe Ma has a particular
interest in chronicling young love. I am not sure if this is an obsession
of his or he simply likes the sound of the cash register ringing, but some
of his previous efforts as a director or producer on the subject have been
First Love Unlimited, Love Amoeba Style, Feel 100%, Over the Rainbow Under
the Skirts, Love Paradox and LOVE . . . Love. He always treats the subject
in a sensitive, but humorous manner and stays away from the banal crudities
that many films on young love wallow in. This is certainly the case here,
as he makes no attempt to exploit them (their naked lesbian shower scene
was done very tastefully I thought and was really essential to the narrative)
or to have them be Twins like in the film. He gives them distinct but every
day personalities.
They go by the names of Kammi and Kiki (so cute!)
and both tentatively approach the subject of love for the first time. Kiki
(Charlene) is swept off her feet by a kiss from Tsui Tin-Yau (from Gimme
Gimme and a pop star himself in a band called Shine – geez I feel so with
it!), but he turns out to be a self absorbed playboy type with girls strewn
over him like the wash line on laundry day. Her little heart is broken.
Kammi (Gillian) has her heart go a flutter when she spots Dave Wong. This
little romance is to say the least a bit creepy because he is twice her
age and a complete social misfit. In any movie but this one, you would
expect to find body parts being stored in his freezer – so Kammi’s feelings
are a bit hard to understand. But isn’t love always. Anyway he finds it
impossible to reach out and her little heart is broken too. There isn’t
much more to it than that but its done in a simple slice of life manner
that has its charms.
So the vital question has to be raised – which
Twin do I like best? Gillian or Charlene, Charlene or Gillian, Gillian
or Charlene – my head is spinning - one minute it is Charlene, the next
it is Gillian. They are both soooo cute. What a conumdrum. Charlene likes
sucking in her lower lip when she is troubled; Gillian kind of wrinkles
her nose. I think in the long run the lip sucking thing would become very
annoying but you can never wrinkle your nose too often – so I have to go
with Gillian for now. But two minutes from now it may be Charlene. Ah to
be young again. And rich as hell like The Twins!
Btw – just in case you believed me for a second,
I was joking about the shower scene! Oh, and the condoms too.
My rating for this film: 6.0
