The Touch
Reviewed by YTSL
Two summers ago, this (re)viewer caught her
first viewing of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” -- and came away feeling
let down by that which she has since grown to love. My initial negative
reaction stemmed in large part from the wuxia work having been saddled
with an impossibly elevated level, breadth and sheer amount of hype.
Another factor that was at play emanated from Columbia-Sony’s decision
to release the (not very well done) Cantonese dubbed -- as opposed to original
Mandarin -- version of the movie where I had my maiden glimpse of it.
Something else that undoubtedly affected my viewing pleasure of this Ang
Lee helmed effort stemmed from my favorite still working actress -- Michelle
Yeoh -- turning out to have a less prominent role in the internationally
acclaimed production than I felt that many of her fans had been led to
believe that she would be accorded.
On August 1st, 2002, what may well be the only
contemporary romantic action-adventure as well as sole Asian -- even if
actually predominantly English language -- movie to feature in the top
ten most highly anticipated productions list assembled at this year’s Cannes
International Film Festival went on general release in Hong Kong, Malaysia,
Singapore and (Mainland) China. Over the weekend, THE TOUCH claimed
the top position at the box offices of the four territories whose folks
were presented with the treat of viewing the Michelle Yeoh, Thomas Chung
and Gao Feng Jun co-production on a big screen some days and months --
and possibly even a year or more (if Miramax sticks to its abandon-able
plan to give it a North American release (only) in the summer of 2003)
-- in advance of others elsewhere in the world. Although I can see
why the arguably over-ambitious East-West effort has been the subject of
quite a few lukewarm plus terribly unenthusiastic reviews, here’s reporting
that my own feeling towards the admittedly imperfect Peter Pau directed
as well as lensed work which I’ve now viewed twice inside of a week is
one that’s mainly positive.
To a great extent, this is due to THE TOUCH providing
its action diva of a star actress the most commanding role and largest
amount of screen time that she has had in years, maybe ever. As might
be expected, she -- who I really do very much enjoy seeing in fighting
femme mode -- looked to have eagerly grabbed the uncommon opportunity accorded
her with both hands, then proceeded to do what appears to be her utmost
to power this Phillip Kwok action choreographed effort with her butt-kicking
prowess and charismatic presence. Along the way and, actually, by
large dint of its literally plus generally placing Michelle Yeoh and her
character (an acrobatic circus performer named Yin whose family happens
to be one that had been entrusted by Buddhist monks -- and trained by each
preceding generation -- to protect a sacred treasure with highly coveted
plus legendary attributes) in the driver’s seat (as well as in some other
small but significant ways), the 103 minute long movie also achieves the
gratifying effect of successfully -- and sometimes even pretty amusingly
-- standing a number of cultural, gender and combo cultural cum gender
stereotypes on their heads.
At one point in THE TOUCH, Eric -- the affable
(some-time) love of Yin who her father (Winston Chao in a cameo appearance)
had bestowed with kindness plus talents of his own -- recognizes a (Mandarin
language) Teresa Teng song that’s playing on the car radio and sings out
its words rather than just hums its tune. What makes this scene special
-- and evoke astonished gasps and pleased giggles on the part of some of
the (Malaysian) folks I viewed this movie with -- is that this fellow who
entered Yin’s life in Penang, Malaysia, then sought out the now orphaned
woman once more years later in Qingdao, China, happens to be portrayed
by the indisputably British Ben Chaplin. What provides confirmation
of the Michelle Yeoh, Helen Pao Yun Huang and Kazuo Okada executive produced
offering’s charming leading male being an uncommon actor is his appearing
to be utterly willing to risk being overshadowed by a(n Asian) female and
also being able to do as much as he did with his designated role (One that
might have come across as thankless, unsympathetic and pitiable on account
of Eric being a professional thief who puts other people as well as himself
in danger, and needs to be rescued plus helped by a female who’s an old
flame to boot).
If only the rest of this extra-filled effort’s
cast members could have transcended the limitations of those not particularly
well-written and -developed parts -- and less than inspired lines of dialogue
-- that were theirs. As it is, the ruthlessly villainous plus greedy
Karl (who Richard Roxburgh got charged with essaying) was too obviously
one-dimensional to take seriously; and this especially since his dumb and
dumber goons came in the form of such as the surprisingly thick accented
Gabriel Harrison/Hoi and -- the admittedly good for a cheap and stupid
laugh or two -- Dane Cook (whose American accented Cousin Bob character
can verge on the gratingly idiotic). With regards to the characters
of Yin’s younger brother, the impetuous Tong, and his sweet girlfriend,
Lily: At least, I came away from my viewing(s) of THE TOUCH with a sense
of why the youngsters played by the debut-making Brandon Chang and Margaret
Wang needed to be in the picture. Unfortunately however, the likes
of the much revered Lung Sihung (playing a holy man, in what sadly turned
out to be his final film appearance) and Kenneth Tsang (as Ping) seem to
have had their considerable talents largely wasted in too small roles.
Still, my strong sense is that those who look
for -- or can’t help seeing -- flaws in that which I felt obliged to check
out (just because it stars the woman for whom I voluntarily sat through
“Owl versus Dumbo”, “Easy Money” and “Wonder Seven”) will chiefly zoom
in on this work’s showy opening section and climactic fight scene rather
than anything else. In all honesty though: While THE TOUCH’s most
lengthy action sequence appeared way too (shoddy) CGI-filled each time
that I viewed it, I did feel that the initially unimpressive circus performance
segment -- which has Yin playing the Monkey King (who is as much a part
of “The Journey to the West” saga as the master monk whose Sharira is sought
and has to be prevented from getting into the wrong hands) -- became more
meaningful and entertaining on repeat viewing. Relatedly, and for
better or worse, my personal opinion of that whose inadequately memorable
and insufficiently moving musical score -- in stark contrast to the ample
opportunity given to Michelle Yeoh to shine -- is one of its components
that I dearly wish could have been better remains generally: unchanged;
and -- unlike what can disconcertingly seem like that of countless others
-- good.
My rating for this film: 7.0