Comrades, Almost a Love Story

The film deals with an every-day subject that lots of films have dealt with so far: boy meets girl. So many people might tend to say "It's always the same with that kind of stories", but in this case they are wrong. This film is simply lovely. Everything is there. The rough meeting, the soft touch, the first realization, the despair in the rain, the slight hope, the fate's sign and finally the supernatural power of emotions. All this with Hongkong and New York - two of the most exciting cities in the world - as background and casted with the outstanding actress Maggie Cheung who I'd love to see more often in the cinema.

There might be bigger love stories, but for those two hours you watch this film the most beautiful love story comes from Hongkong.

This movie is a classic. Maggie Cheung, in what I consider her best work, is simply brilliant as the young Chinese woman who emigrates to Hong Kong in search of a better life. While it is a classic love story, Peter Chan has done a fantastic job of making it extremely fresh and captivating. The script is very well-written, and the rest of the cast and crew perform admirably. But it is Maggie who steals the show, and for this role she deservedly won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

This brilliant love epic spans 10 years and traces the star-crossed relationship between two Chinese immigrants who are mysteriously drawn to each other and find comfort in each other's experiences. Though certain coincidences are perhaps unrealistic at first glimpse, the scriptwriters handle it extremely well, embedding them in a believable situation. The direction is flawless, the casting is perfect. Leon's innocent face is exquisite and Maggie's strength and determination deem her a likable heroine. Perhaps slow for non-romantics, this movie paints a beautiful portrait of ideal love, one which surpasses time and place and confirms the ideal belief that certain things are meant to happen in our life. This movie addresses many issues at a level yet unreached by Hollywood and it can really teach westerners a lesson on how to bring out the essence of true love.

"Almost a Love Story" is known as a classic among the Asian countries, not just China or Hong Kong. However, I somehow missed watching it until 2014(!) perhaps because I was not too eager to see yet another uninspiring romantic comedy, which seems to have been the norm for quite some time now in the cinema world.

After seeing every combination of the romantic comedy formula for years, I did not expect much out of "Almost," which admittedly has plenty of its own cliché's and coincidences. But despite those, the movie still manages to be achingly beautiful and heart-taxingly stark in its depiction of the human condition. This movie may especially shock the Westerners who are used to "clean" and neat romantic love stories. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it as soon as possible.

This fable of comrades (i.e. people from Mainland China migrating to Hong Kong in pursuit of their dreams) and lovers Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai is generally enjoyable, although at times I found it hard to believe, as it relies a lot on luck, coincidence and predestination. It may be that luck protects those with a noble soul, surely the spirit of Teresa Teng must have watched over the two comrades from a very close point of view!

The first half is very entertaining and energetic, as it follows the ups and downs of the protagonists, as they experience the frenetic life of Hong Kong, with its fast jobs, fast money and fast food. At the same time, Leon and Maggie also discover the negative aspects of their stay: the stock market landslides and, more over, the loneliness of living alone in a big city. Inevitably, they fall in love with each other and yet try to remain detached, as they have way too different aspirations: Maggie Cheung is a business-oriented girl, while Leon Lai is more idealistic and, more over, is already engaged. Among the most memorable moments is the bunch of wishes that the two comrades exchange, in celebration of the New Lunar Year!

The arrival of Leon Lai's girlfriend to HK marks a big change of pace in the movie, as an ocean of problems, sorrows and regrets await the two protagonists: second half is very melodramatic, be warned! Anyway, the movie is definitely worth the viewing, if it were only for the thorough portrait of Hong Kong it offers. 7/10