It is all in the shades...
This is a morally ambiguous story about a naive man who moves to Hong Kong to seek a better life for himself and his girlfriend but finds himself changing as fast as the city and well... ends up taking all kinds of turns that may or may not give him and the girl a better life but also throw him on a journey of change, lust and falling in love with someone else than the girl he was supposed to seek a better life for.There is a strange realism to this story playing with shades of morality and taking us away from the one true love many seem to adore.
Our female lead is really fun, cool and great at speaking her mind while still showcasing some kind of voulnarabilaty and the ability to keep two ideas in her head at the sam time.
There are some interesting lines and schenes that show about relativity and change.
A pretty decent film
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Deservedly well respected Hong Kong classic, with extra meaning for fans of Thai series
This is the film which means so much to Jim in Moonlight Chicken and by inference to screenwriter/director Aof. So not just a great recommendation for a beautiful film but also a way to more fully understand his character's inner life and the significance of the song he used for the opening theme.Comrades doesn't disappoint. It's set in crowded urban environments but much of it is tightly focused, concentrating on two characters at a time. A conversation in a narrow hall at a party, in a car, the McDonald's queue. Its story isn't complex and, like Moonlight Chicken, has few events external to the key relationships. I first wrote that there's more pain in Comrades but that's not true. Moonlight surrounds all of its pain with so much love while Comrades is far lonelier. Its main characters become close because they're all they have in this city.
The film is calm, gentle, and quietly poignant. It takes its time and it's well worth some of ours.
(Yay, other people have written better reviews finally. I was so noob here, not used to organising my thoughts for a review and still caught up in the emotions of MC. Really do intend to get around to watching Comrades:AALS again, and improving this here, but there's so much to watch I never get around to it.... Anyway, give hearts to the others and let my nonsense fall off the front page na :D It's a fantastic and beautiful film.)
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A celebration of love
Falling in love is easy; falling out of love is harder. This is where Comrades, Almost a Love Story succeeds; its tragic beauty is undeniable. It's a heartfelt story of two mainlanders caught in fate's grand design, an incredibly moving film full of soulful looks, lingering glances and averted eyes. Director Patrick Chan and writer Ivy Ho throw every romantic convention imaginable into the film, Chan's direction remains restrained and respectful, holding back from too much sentimentality; while Ho's script is rich with wonderful details, drawing upon the culture and the history of recent Hong Kong. Although she eventually falls upon clichés to bring the film full circle, the plot devices don't feel like plot devices but combined with a beautiful piano-laden score means its no deal breaker. Maggie Cheung is wonderful here; her luminous screen presence just lights up the film, while Leon Lai turns in an admirable performance of his own, although occasionally wooden at times, it's lovely to see him inhabit such a real character. Destiny is a force that fascinates Hong Kong, which is understandable as they've felt themselves swept along by the river of history, with little or no control over their eventual fate. Yes, there's a certain drag to it and sometimes it's even a little melodramatic but ultimately Comrades, Almost a Love Story is a wonderfully beautiful celebration of love and all the challenges it brings.Was this review helpful to you?
