LOVE is inexplicably simple and complicated, love is realistic and unrealistic at the same time, , you love it so much that you would hate not to love it. Love can and can’t be explained at times. So, how to then bring forth such a subject through the medium of storytelling? It is a challenge (but aren’t most things are anyways!), but not impossible. Love story is perhaps one of the oldest genres in movie that truly stand the test of time, and sentiment. Love humanizes humanity, love neutralizes misunderstanding. In films, love needs to be elevated to a place where the audience is comfortable with the story, relate to the characters and immersed with their journey of love, trials and tribulations. Love hurts, but ultimately, love should prevail at the end of the film. The audience should walk away feeling lifted, with a sense of hope, even though it is just, for those moments and space within the world of movie magic. We recently watched TOGETHER, a Hong Kong love story, with great line-up of big casts like Donnie Yen, Angelababy and the cute couples, Zhendong Ke and Michelle Chen from the famous Taiwanese big hit, You Are The Apple Of My Eye, but surprisingly, it was quite a let down. What was sacrificed was the story. The style took precedent over the importance of basic storytelling. There were pockets of memorable moments between the characters, but as a whole, it is an uneven film, trying too hard to please. It left me with a BIG hole to fill, on a Valentine’s Day. Not entirely satisfied, my post-Valentine hunt took me to another film I wanted to watch last year, but somehow missed it – LOVE, an ensemble piece of love story, also filled with big stars like Zhao Wei, Mark Zhao, ShuQi, Ethan Juan, Eddie Peng, Ivy Chan, Amber Kuo and Doze Niu (he also directed the film). Now, this film is something else. To begin with, it’s a much more matured way of storytelling, in terms of story structure, characterization, camera work, the cinematography and everything else. Most importantly, it is the chemistry between the characters, how their love stories unfold and are intricately yet gently linked in some ways, with one another, within a story that is well weaved together. Each love story is unique yet extremely memorable (I personally love the couple of ZhaoWei and Mark Zhao, among others). The humour is subtle and natural, it does not feel out of place and forceful. Everything falls right into place. Kudos to the actor-director, Doze Niu. I throughly enjoyed LOVE (click on the LOVE word to watch the trailer on their youtube channel). This is how a love story should be – it makes you cry, smile and walk away HAPPY >_<
Last note: We will leave you with a song from the movie LOVE, sung by Hebe, but originally composed by a Malaysian singer-composer, Aki Huang.
WhereStoryMatters Blog 