Daisy

Flowers! If it's one thing you'll take away from this movie, it's gonna be the flowers. They feature so prominently and are used as plot devices, you'll become an expert in identifying with daisies and black tulips by the time the movie ends.

Set in Amsterdam, Daisy tells the frustrating love triangle story between 1 girl and the 2 men in her life. One a professional hit-man eking out a living, the other an Interpol agent. Featuring a Pan-Asian cast (Korean, Hong Kong) and crew (director Andrew Lau from Hong Kong, writer from Korea, and a Thai post production team), I could imagine the headaches in coordination.

Park Yi (Jung Woo-sung) is a hit-man who found a soft spot for painter Hye-young (played by the pretty Jeon Ji-hyun). It's love at first sight in the meadows of daisies, where her clumsiness caught his attention. However, being shy and ever mindful of the dangers of his professional career, he can only admire her from afar, do little (or perhaps big) things for her in an anonymous fashion, but the one that takes the cake is sending her potted daisies everyday without fail at 4:15pm. He becomes her guardian angel from afar, shielding her and keeping her safe from harm.

Hye-young is in love with this mysterious stranger. She is constantly waiting for him to appear, but I really wonder how difficult could that be given the almost punctual daisy delivery. Nonetheless, she's terribly moved, and touched by this sole act. However, as the stars would have it, interpol detective Jeong Woo (Lee Sung-jae) chances upon Hye-young at a town square during one of his undercover missions, and he too is captivated by her. In a similar fashion, because of his profession, he is doubtful if he should make the first move.

Which is where the audience would find it frustrating. The lady obviously would fall for the wrong guy (then again, it's the "good" guy), Park Yi being infuriated by Jeong Woo's pursuit, but yet still refuses to step out and identify himself, and Jeong Woo being the opportunist in grabbing the free anonymous identity unwittingly. It's almost as if you wanna give everyone a slap to wake them all up.

That aside, it is precisely this tension that keeps you intrigued. And it is wickedly fun to watch the two male leads finding it tough to fall in love without jeopardizing their careers, or their loved one. But fret not action fans, there are enough cat-and-mouse revelations and unsaid camaraderie in the mould of Infernal Affairs, as well as ample gunfights, although I felt the ending could have been scripted tighter.

What rocks is the clever editing. Telling the story in a non-linear timeline (no worries, it ain't that bad, you'll still be able to follow the narrative) from the points of view of all the leads, keeping you in suspense, and culminating in a three way split screen showcasing all their emotions in a single converging event, which I thought was extremely well-done.

It's a beautiful film in terms of landscapes of lush meadows and busy city squares, with plenty of classical music to sooth the soul. As with romance movies, all the leads are eye candy - the girls will have a field day with the two handsome male leads, while the guys have to make do with a somewhat pudgy-faced (argh! OK lah, at certain angles) Jeon Ji-hyun.

If you're into a romance movie with an equal balance in the action/tension department, then Daisy would be your choice. If you prefer a more conventional weepy, then the other Korean movie making its debut here at the same time, You are My Sunshine, would be your alternative. And yes, I totally dig the ending scene, which I thought only the Koreans do it best? Kinda reminded me of the JSA one.

A young Korean artist lives in Amsterdam. She is a bit of a loner and has never had a serious relationship, insisting that she is "waiting" for the right person. She works in the public square, drawing portraits for passersby but, for herself, she also indulges in painting her favorite flowers, daisies. But, all of a sudden, she has a secret admirer. Flowers are delivered to her residence every day at 4:15, usually daisies, yet she can not catch the sender in the act. This is because, unknown to her, her beau is a Korean hit-man, and he wishes to remain hidden, for now. One day in the square, however, another attractive Korean man sits for the artist and happens to be carrying a pot of daisies. She concludes that he is her shy hero and, also, the man she has been waiting to find. This second gentleman, too, has a secret; he is an Interpol agent. The assassin can see everything that transpires in the square, due to having an apartment close by. Naturally, he is disturbed that another man has entered the young girl's life. How will this shadowy love triangle play out? This is a beautiful picture to watch. The setting in Amsterdam and the surrounding countryside is very, very lovely. Add in three most attractive young Korean actors and, visually, any viewer has a stunning panorama in front of them. The story is quite nice, too, being a mixture of drama and action, with a dash of the unexpected. Costumes are very fetching and the production values, high. In short, anyone searching for a quality foreign film with a compelling story and great scenery would find this movie a wonderful choice for a diverting evening. Should you have someone's hand to hold during the view, so much the better.

I saw the Korean version of Daisy first. It came across as a simple love story that flowed nicely from start to finish. I saw it 3 times as I waited for my copy of the director's cut to arrive.

Then I got the DC and watched it. Wow! I think this is the first REAL director's cut I've ever seen. Amazing how detailed the editing is in both versions! The DC is laid out like a hardcore thriller, with the love story in the background. It moves at a slower pace than the Korean version.The variations between both versions are so drastic, it seems like two totally different movies. I thought I would be worn out watching the movie again, toughing it out just to look for the added scenes. That wasn't the case. It really felt like I was watching a whole new movie.

While the DC is 20 minutes longer than the Korean version, you'll be hard-pressed to pinpoint where or what has been changed. 2 seconds chopped off here. A second added there. An entire scene added here. Another erased there. In both versions, scenes have been added, omitted or chopped up and reordered. In some scenes, entire lines of dialogue were replaced or reordered - while the scene itself was untouched. Even simple sound effects were added/omitted from each version - having a major impact on the mood of the film, and sometimes even changing the outcome of a scene. What comes across as a tender moment in the Korean version is a sad, somber one in the DC. The endings of both versions leave room for interpretation. As far as I can tell, both versions end a LOT different, and were intended that way.

I'm assuming most people will be acquiring the director's cut of the film, and will find the movie pretty decent, but a little long and boring. If that's the case, look for the Korean version. Same movie, but different feel. I think there's a deluxe 3-DVD version that contains both cuts of the film - not sure.

The versions compliment each other so well that as a pair, I'll watch Daisy more often than I do any of my other favorite Korean movies. Alone, I'd say the Korean version is a nice love story that I'd watch once in awhile. The director's cut, I'll watch maybe once or twice, then never again, as I find the pacing dull. But they just go so well together! For what I consider the best experience, I'd say watch the Korean version first. Then watch the director's cut to help fill in the gaps of the story that you were curious about.

The editing is the real star of the film.

Again, I'm late 6 years to watch a good Asian movie. This makes me think why cinemas in my country only play Hollywood summer blockbusters when there are many better non Hollywood movies out there. Anyway... This movie really reminds me of HK Chow Yun Fat's The Killer (1987). There is a romantic killer and disable girl as his love interest. By then, the girl was blind after the shoot out and in Daisy, the girl can not speak after the gun fight. Both killers are decent man and have a good self consciousness (I doubt there is really a gun for hire out there like our lead actor). But that's all of the resemblance. The tone of Daisy is drama, so action is not very intense. Even at the end, when the final show down between the killer and the villains, the intensity is not very high. But one thing differ this movie from its predecessor, it's Jun Ji Hyun. She's really a good actress, capable of drawing our sympathy, feel her love and pain even though she does not speak nearly for half end of the movie. When she discovered the truth about the man whom she really loved, deep down in our heart we really wish happiness for her, even though some of us maybe know what's coming. Definitely 8/10

Simply unconvincing… Love is all about timing and it's no good meeting the right person at the wrong place and the wrong time. Well, at least for a good 100 minutes of Daisy it seems to be heading towards that way, but then all of a sudden director Andrew Lau takes a complete U-turn and goes for anything is possible – "the future can be changed". The result is weird, confusing, unbelievable and a tad too long. Running at 110 minutes, Daisy is at least 20 minutes too long, and the effect on the audience is straining and dragging on and on, which isn't exactly the right type of emotions to have. Without doubt, this is an Andrew Lau film, the director who helmed a production called Infernal Affairs, but somehow, it plays more like a typical melodramatic Korean film and adding some spices of Johnnie To's Fulltime Killer. The end product isn't original and the overall feeling is pretty much unconvincing and when the only pros are the beautiful backdrop of Amsterdam, the pretty painter and good production values, you can tell that a lot of things are heading the wrong direction.

The movie goes like this: "Daisy" is a story about the inevitable showdown between a detective and a killer who fall in love with the same woman. In the story, Jeon plays a street artist who dreams of opening her own exhibition someday, while Jeong portrays a killer who loves her but cannot confess his love to her because of his profession.

Sometimes, you wonder how the hell a director like Andrew Lau can co-direct films like Infernal Affairs and Young and Dangerous, and then go on and create crap like The Park, Wesley's Mysterious Files when left alone.

Whatever the case, in Daisy, Lau isn't just unconvincing, but also disappointing. It is extremely unfortunate that the bright spot of Korean cinema is now resorting to cliché and Lau does nothing new, but reinforces that fact. Adding to the wound is the casting of hugely popular Jeon Ji-Hyun from My Sassy Girl, further enhancing the fact of how the hell did this movie turned out so boring.

Jeon Ji-Hyun is alongside, Ha Ji-won and Song Hye-kyo as Neo's favourite Koreans and while her performance here is hugely different from her loud mouthed fame from My Sassy Girl. She offers nothing new or fresh to the mute role and frankly it is a role that can be done by any other actresses. Muting a talkative girl is as much a pain for her to stop talking, let alone for the audience to endure through it. Nonetheless she is an extremely likable character and possessing pretty face to go with it. Lee Sung-Jae performs far better than the Andy Lau wannabe - Jung Woo-Sung. Lee shows some good acting chops and his chemistry with Jeon is romantic to watch. Perhaps it is the moment that he disappears from the screen that the movie becomes a tad too long and leaning towards boredom. In some way, his eyes resemble a Tony Leung Chiu Wai with a Korean flair and in an ironic contrast, Jung parallels an Andy Lau. Perhaps it is Andrew Lau's fault in filming them as if they are HK superstars, rather than letting them be themselves, but nonetheless, it is a shockingly crap performance from Jung and his encounters with Jeon is stupid and utterly unbelievable.

As I mentioned before, there is a spice of Fulltime Killer within this film, and certainly Jeon's role is not unlike Kelly Lin and Jung being the Andy Lau and Lee as the cop. However, despite Fulltime Killer being flawed itself, it was still highly enjoyable and utterly and stylishly cool, but Daisy is just far too uneven and more importantly unconvincing. Sure, there are bits and pieces in the first 90 minutes that is worth watching; especially the scene where Lee encounters Jeon in the middle of the beautiful backdrop of Amsterdam, their awkward moment of romance is a beautiful moment to endure. Unfortunately those moments are far and in between and the rest is just predictable and unconvincing.

All in all, Daisy isn't bad movie, but it is utterly unconvincing. Even typing this review, right now, I realise that I have been typing one word over and over again – unconvincing. It is rare that I keep using the same word over and over again to describe a movie, but it is exactly the reason why the movie didn't work. Andrew Lau has yet to prove that he can handle a movie by himself, and if it takes a co-director for him to have any success, then he should stop directing alone. Sometimes, a director really needs to know what the hell he is aiming to achieve, so that the audience can understand the message that he is trying to put across. It is no good, emphasising the point of missed opportunities and meeting the person at the wrong time and place for a good portion of the movie, then all of a sudden turning 180 degrees saying that it doesn't really matter. The effect is that of leaving the audience feeling stupid and more unbelievable than believable. Perhaps one word can sum up the whole film and you probably already know what word it would be – unconvincing…

I rate it 6/10

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