R E V I E W :    Okinawa Rendez-vous  

Reviewed 12/4/00 | Background | Movie Review | DVD Review | Recommendation

  

Background 

Mei Ah / 2000 / 100 minutes
Directed by Gordon Chan
Written by Gordon Chan and Chan Hing Ka

Gordon Chan has developed a reputation as a good director of action movies such as Fist of Legend (starring Jet Li), The Final Option and its sequel First Option, Thunderbolt (starring Jackie Chan), Armageddon, Beast Cop, and, most recently 2000 A.D. Right after that movie was released early this year, Chan decided he wanted to make a lighter summer comedy. Okinawa Rendez-vous was completed and released just a few months after it was conceived. At Chan's behest, Faye Wong returned for her first movie role in six years.

The film is the second from production company One Hundred Years of Film. The first was Needing You . . ., and the two subsequent productions were Help!!! and Jiang Hu-"The Triad Zone."

Movie: plot, performances, production, rating

"Holiday escape movies," a genre into which Okinawa Rendez-vous has placed itself, should be light and frothy. The film begins well, bringing together a variety of men and women in an Okinawa resort setting and gently touching off a few events that will cause some of the characters to draw together romantically and others to break up their respective relationships. The performances are uniformly pleasant, by such veterans as Tony Leung Ka-fai, Leslie Cheung, Gigi Lai (a personal favorite for the way she rebounds quickly after a mid-film disappointment), Vincent Kuk, Stephanie Che, and Faye Wong as the central figure in the relationship merry-go-round.

The film succeeds in passing time in a colorful and enjoyable manner. On the other hand, the script's shortcomings are readily apparent. Relationships between characters change on whims, and the film never builds to a conclusion -- it simply stops. In that sense it feels like summer itself -- you might come to the end of summer and suddenly realize -- "If only I had planned better, I might have gotten more accomplished, or enjoyed myself more." On the third hand (okay, I'm pushing things here), what more should be expected from a minor diversion?

The photography by Cheng Siu Keung is suitably lovely. Okinawa looks overcast and windy most of the time, though, which isn't my idea of a summer resort destination. The musical score is an interesting hybrid of styles - such a wild melange distracted more than it should have for an escapist movie such as this.

The film is rated Category IIA - no gunplay, all the relationships seem quite chaste, and there is perhaps one obscenity uttered.

DVD: look, sound, subtitles, and features

As with many discs from Mei Ah, the colors are a touch soft. For a movie with this artistic palette, the colors should pop off the screen vibrantly, but that is not the case. The source print is very good and I saw no imperfections in the picture itself (letterboxed at 2.35 to 1).

Both Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 Cantonese and Mandarin audio tracks are provided. I listened to the Cantonese 5.1 track and it sounded excellent, with a wide, expansive depth of sound field. Traditional and simplified Chinese subtitles are provided in addition to English; the English titles are large, white, and easy to read.

There are 9 chapter markings. The "data bank" contains a cast and crew listing and the synopsis from the back of the disk. The "best buy" is a less-than-enthralling trailer for Michael Wong's Miles Apart.

Buy, rent, or pass?

Rent. An enjoyable, good-looking film with pleasant performances but nothing remarkable.

 

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