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R E V I E W
A Moment of Romance
Mega Star / 1990 / 88 minutes
Directed by Benny Chan Muk Sing
Written by James Yuen Sai-SangWith Andy Lau, Wu Chien Lien, Tommy Wong Kwong-Leung
B A C K G R O U N D : director, in cinemas, recent and related films
Television director Benny Chan demonstrated an impressive amount of potential in his film debut. Also featured is an early script by James Yuen, who later wrote many of the key films made by production company UFO in the 1990's. Johnny To served as producer; both Ringo Lam and Wong Jing are listed as associate producers.
The film debuted in Hong Kong cinemas in June 1990 and enjoyed a multi-week run, grossing HK $12.9 million.
Benny Chan later directed The Magic Crane in 1993 and finally delivered on his promise fully with Big Bullet in 1996. He went on to direct Jackie Chan in Who Am I? and lately has made both Gen-X Cops and its sequel, Gen-Y Cops. Writer James Yuen has developed into an interesting director, as shown in his most recent project, Clean My Name, Mr. Coroner!
M O V I E : plot, performances, production, rating
Plot: Good girl JoJo falls for bad boy on a motorcycle Wah Dee. JoJo is a lonely young rich girl looking for her first romance before her parents take her away to Canada. Wah Dee is committed to the triad lifestyle.
Performances: Andy Lau carries the film effortlessly as Wah Dee. He is matched by his co-star, Wu Chien Lien (Ng Sin-Lin), who is sweet and beguiling in her debut film role as JoJo. Tommy Wong Kwong-Leung provides a rough-edged counterpart as tough guy Trumpet.
Production: Despite a couple of musical interludes, the film's pacing is brisk; in fact, the songs add to the story and take care of about half of the romance that is detailed. Enough details about peripheral characters are supplied to make for a well-rounded tale. Director Chan captures a number of classic images and, though he teeters on the edge of sentimentality, never falls into that trap. The action choreography by Yuen Bun is very good, full of motion that appears spontaneous. The cinematography by Joe Chan Gong Hung and Horace Wong Wing-Hing is not exceptionally stylish, but gets the job done effectively during the many scenes set at night. The musical score by Lo Ta-Yu and Fabio Carli as well as the songs are used to heighten tension and provide some romantic relief.
Rating: Category II. Well-earned rating due to extensive amount of bloodshed and beatings, some of it explicit, along with a few words of profanity.
D V D : look, sound, subtitles, features
Look: The letterboxed (approximately 1.85:1) presentation looked OK. The source print demonstrated a lot of wear and tear, with a lot of dust and some scratches. Perhaps as a result, the black levels were inadequate, colors looked less than saturated, and flesh tones not quite natural.
Sound: I listened to the post-synched and remastered DD 5.1 Cantonese audio track. It was adequate. Actually, it sounded like a mono track with a little echo added. I never heard anything from the surrounds. Also included is a Mandarin version, which, although also identified as DD 5.1, sounded even less deep and expansive than the Cantonese track.
Subtitles: The white removable English subtitles are fairly easy to read and timed well. Some dialogue is not subtitled, however. Although many grammatical mistakes are evident, it's usually not too difficult to figure out the correct meaning. Also included are subtitles in traditional and simplified Chinese, Japanese, Bahasa Malaysia, Thai, Vietnamese, and Spanish.
Features: Nine chapters can be selected from a full-motion video clip menu. "About the Film" contains a brief synopsis and a cast and crew listing. The cast listing leads you to filmographies for Benny Chan, Andy Lau, and Wu Chien Lien. The original theatrical trailer is included, as are trailers for Jackie Chan --My Stunts, Black Cat, Black Cat 2, and the Media Asia DVD promotional ad.
R E C O M M E N D A T I O N : buy, rent, or pass?
Rent. An absorbing and flavorful triad film with much bloodshed and a little romance, highlighted by first-rate performances by the two lead performers.
(Reviewed 7/18/01)
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