Perhaps Love is an unusual film from the East in that it is a musical. Jacky Cheung plays an acclaimed movie director, Nie Wen, who gave the major break to his girlfriend Sun Na (Zhou Xun) years ago. Once again, he's cast her in a musical film which tells of a love triangle between the leading lady to be played by Sun Na, her former boyfriend played by Lin Jian-Dong (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and a circus director played by Nie Wen. Little does Nie Wen know that there are too many similarities between his script and real life, as Sun Na and Lin Jian-Dong have a past from 10 years before.
Our film unravels, showing the parallels between Nie Wen's film and flashbacks of the story between Sun Na and Lin Jian-Dong. Despite the potential for it being clichéd and full of the boring old scenes from other romantic stories, it does turn out to be innovative and full of a few twists to keep the interest going. Plus Nie Wen's musical film gives some beautiful songs and choreography that occasionally bridge fictional and real life, so good in fact, that they would fit in well in some good West End/Broadway musicals.
Jacky Cheung, fresh from his almost endless tour round Asia in the stage musical production, Snow.Wolf.Lake, demonstrates in the movie why he is the king of the musical stage in Asia. His unique, powerful singing voice shines like a heavenly king's should. Takeshi Kaneshiro was a pop star in his youth and sings well (and just in case you wondered, not at all like the drunken scene in House Of Flying Daggers when Zhang Ziyi dances). But the acting honours go to Zhou Xun, who didn't actually have many singing parts, but her acting shone through as exceptional. She effectively plays three characters in this movie (Sun Na in her youth and as the diva, and the character in Nie Wen's film), and she makes the transition between those characters so effortlessly. She is for me a real talent in the making, a Zhang Ziyi but with real acting ability aside from looking innocent. It is no wonder then, that she won the HK Film Critics Award in 2006 for best actress, beating a whole host of stars and is up for the same category the coveted Hong Kong Film Awards in April 2006.
Peter Chan's visionary directing is as strong as ever. The film has some amazing sets, costumes and choreography that brings it to life. The cinematography is almost Christopher Doyle-esquire. Given Chan's other recent success (as producer) being Dumplings in the Three... Extremes films, I'm now looking forward to what Chan has to offer next.
The film is bound to create some more interest in Chinese musicals in the future, and I'm hoping that we'll see a film version of Jacky Cheung's Snow.Wolf.Lake. And there is an appetite for it internationally too, as Perhaps Love was widely praised when it closed the 62nd Venice Film Festival. In Hong Kong, it received good reviews, is nominated for 11 HK Film Awards and was Hong Kong's official entry into the Oscars (although it hasn't been nominated) This is a gorgeous film and definitely worth watching. One for an emotional tug on the musical heartstrings.
Our film unravels, showing the parallels between Nie Wen's film and flashbacks of the story between Sun Na and Lin Jian-Dong. Despite the potential for it being clichéd and full of the boring old scenes from other romantic stories, it does turn out to be innovative and full of a few twists to keep the interest going. Plus Nie Wen's musical film gives some beautiful songs and choreography that occasionally bridge fictional and real life, so good in fact, that they would fit in well in some good West End/Broadway musicals.
Jacky Cheung, fresh from his almost endless tour round Asia in the stage musical production, Snow.Wolf.Lake, demonstrates in the movie why he is the king of the musical stage in Asia. His unique, powerful singing voice shines like a heavenly king's should. Takeshi Kaneshiro was a pop star in his youth and sings well (and just in case you wondered, not at all like the drunken scene in House Of Flying Daggers when Zhang Ziyi dances). But the acting honours go to Zhou Xun, who didn't actually have many singing parts, but her acting shone through as exceptional. She effectively plays three characters in this movie (Sun Na in her youth and as the diva, and the character in Nie Wen's film), and she makes the transition between those characters so effortlessly. She is for me a real talent in the making, a Zhang Ziyi but with real acting ability aside from looking innocent. It is no wonder then, that she won the HK Film Critics Award in 2006 for best actress, beating a whole host of stars and is up for the same category the coveted Hong Kong Film Awards in April 2006.
Peter Chan's visionary directing is as strong as ever. The film has some amazing sets, costumes and choreography that brings it to life. The cinematography is almost Christopher Doyle-esquire. Given Chan's other recent success (as producer) being Dumplings in the Three... Extremes films, I'm now looking forward to what Chan has to offer next.
The film is bound to create some more interest in Chinese musicals in the future, and I'm hoping that we'll see a film version of Jacky Cheung's Snow.Wolf.Lake. And there is an appetite for it internationally too, as Perhaps Love was widely praised when it closed the 62nd Venice Film Festival. In Hong Kong, it received good reviews, is nominated for 11 HK Film Awards and was Hong Kong's official entry into the Oscars (although it hasn't been nominated) This is a gorgeous film and definitely worth watching. One for an emotional tug on the musical heartstrings.