The Asian Film Thread

Haven't been watching Asian films for a very long time. So I've got tons of catching up to do. The last one I caught was "Perhaps Love" by Peter Chan. It's essentially a "musical within a musical" about unrequited love. The plot is pretty simple but works very nicely in exploring, broadway style, the inner struggles of the three lead characters played by Jacky Cheung, Zhou Xun and Takeshi Kaneshiro.

Cheung and Zhou are fantastic actors. Cheung plays the role of a melancholic director with extreme finesse, but I was more surprised by how good Zhou was. Granted she doesn't quite have the same vocal powers as Cheung during the musical numbers, the doe-eyed Zhou captures the innocence and fragility of her character very well. Not surprised that she won a best actress accolade at the recent Hong Kong film awards. I was rather disappointed with Kaneshiro at several points. He can't quite seem to detach himself from the pretty boy label, except for the flashback sequences which I thoroughly enjoyed. He doesn't emote very well for the most part. That and his character was given some really strange moping scenes.

The movie does have its flaws. Some of the musical sequences are a little bit overdone. I really didn't like Kaneshiro's singing. And there were some situations/relationships I felt could have been further developed on. While not an excellent film, "Perhaps Love" is still very enjoyable and touching, leaving a strong bitter-sweet after taste. The great visuals and sets certainly add to the experience as well. Definitely worth a recommendation.

Jam it back in, in the dark.