Lover’s Discourse
恋人絮语
Hong Kong, 2010, colour, 2.35:1, 117 mins.
Directors: Zeng Guoxiang 曾国祥 [Derek Tsang], Yin Zhiwen 尹志文 [Jimmy Wan].
Rating: 5/10.
Well-cast but thinly scripted portmanteau drama with overlapping characters in separate stories.
STORY
Hong Kong, the present day. Episode 1. Old friends and former lovers Zheng Zhilei (Chen Yixun) and Lan (Lin Jiaxin), each now with new partners, meet one evening in Causeway Bay for a drink and share a special moment together in Victoria Park. Episode 2. Zhi (Xie Anqi), a shy worker at a laundry, has a secret crush on regular customer Li Guangsheng (Peng Yuyan), a doctor. One day she finds a ticket in his clothes and goes to watch the same film, Taoist vs Vampire, triggering a series of cinematic fantasies in which she co-stars with him. Episode 3. Liang Baojing (Xiang Zuo) is secretly following Li Guangsheng in a department store while the latter is on his mobile phone. Liang Baojing remembers when they were both classmates and friends (Chen Weiting, Chen Jiale) 12 years ago, how he had a teenage crush on Li Guangsheng’s mother (Chen Jieyi) and how he destroyed her marriage to Li Guangsheng’s father (Zeng Zhiwei). Episode 4. Liang Baojing gets an on-line message from a young woman called Qi (Fan Xiaoxuan) that his wife Lan is having an affaire with her partner Zheng Zhilei. She suggests they follow each other’s partners one evening to resolve the matter.
REVIEW
“There’s nothing left to talk about love but its stories” runs the tagline to Lover’s Discourse 恋人絮语 – which pretty much sums up this feature debut by actor Zeng Guoxiang 曾国祥 [Derek Tsang], son of veteran Zeng Zhiwei 曾志伟 [Eric Tsang], and writer Yin Zhiwen 尹志文 [Jimmy Wan] (Isabella 伊莎贝拉, 2006; Dream Home, 2010). Produced by Peng Haoxiang 彭浩翔 [Pang Ho-cheung], for whom both have worked in the past, the film does have its own character, with none of either Peng’s enjoyable quirkiness or his frustrating structural weaknesses, but at the end of the day adds up to a thimbleful of content spread over a lengthy two hours. Leading actors Chen Yixun 陈奕迅 [Eason Chan] and Lin Jiaxin 林嘉欣 [Karena Lam] are rather under-employed, though the film manages to knit together a diverse Chinese cast (singers Fan Xiaoxuan 范晓萱 from Taiwan, Chen Jieyi 陈洁仪 from Singapore, Xie Anqi 谢安琪 from Hong Kong, plus Taiwan actor Peng Yuyan 彭于晏 [Eddie Peng]) into a believable dramatic unit. Xie (Love Connected 保持爱你, 2009; Split Second Murders 死神傻了, 2009) hits just the right note of lovestruck shyness in the second epsiode.
Rather than using overlapping stories, Zeng and Yin employ overlapping characters in four different stories, which works best with the middle two (in which the third episode sheds new light on the male character in the second). The movie looks like developing some overall shape and substance in the final episode, which brings back Chen Yixun and Lin’s characters from the opening; but just when things are getting interesting, the film-makers, clearly with nothing else left to say, fall back on stylistic mannerisms capped by a montage of all the characters and an upbeat song in English about love. Widescreen production values are good on the Red One-originated movie, apart from an unattractive, magenta-ish look to the third episode.
CREDITS
Presented by Irresistible Delta (HK), Film Development Fund (HK). Produced by ET Movie (HK).
Script: Zeng Guoxiang [Derek Tsang], Yin Zhiwen [Jimmy Wan]. Photography: Lin Zhijian [Charlie Lam]. Editing: Zeng Guoxiang [Derek Tsang]. Music: Jin Peida [Peter Kam]. Art direction: Zhou Zhuohui. Sound: Nie Jirong. Visual effects: Zhao Weijun. Animation: Arkunion.
Cast: Chen Yixun [Eason Chan] (Zheng Zhilei/Ray), Lin Jiaxin [Karena Lam] (Lan/Nancy/Chloe Lee), Fan Xiaoxuan (Qi/Kay), Xie Anqi (Zhi/Gigi), Peng Yuyan [Eddie Peng] (Li Guangsheng/Sam, doctor), Xiang Zuo [Jacky Heung] (Liang Baojing/Paul), Chen Weiting (teenage Liang Baojing), Chen Jiale (teenage Li Guangsheng), Zeng Zhiwei [Eric Tsang] (his father), Chen Jieyi (his mother).
Premiere: Pusan Film Festival (New Currents), 12 Oct 2010.
Release: Hong Kong, 6 Jan 2011.
(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 15 Dec 2010.)