SYNOPSIS:
It is the hottest summer on record. A chauffeur and a foot masseuse
romance through text messages, unaware of each other's identities.
An innocent factory girl asks her to admirer to stand outside
in the heat foir 100 days to prove his love. A sushi chef prepares
the perfect meal so that the food critic he loves will stay
with him forever. A blinded photographer must locate the beautiful
model he insulted. An old man desperately searches for an antique
light bulb for the shrine of his late wife. And each night,
an air conditioner repairman challenges a mystery girl to a
road race. When a blackout spreads across the city, the city
turns to chaos. Can love shine through?
MOVIE REVIEW:
The ensemble romantic comedy has become somewhat of a fad in Hollywood of late- think “Love Actually”, “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “Valentine’s Day”- and who better to bring the genre to Asian cinema than a Hollywood studio itself. 20th Century Fox’s first foray into Chinese-language cinema is this ensemble rom-com “Hot Summer Days” which counts among its stars Jacky Cheung, Rene Liu, Nicholas Tse, Barbie Hsu, Daniel Wu, Vivian Hsu, Angelababy, Jing Boran, Duan Yihong and Fu Xinbo.
The instantly recognisable names from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China compliment the multiple-location setting of the film, which seems little more than a ploy to draw audiences from each of these lucrative territories into the cinema to see their idols onscreen. Yes, like its Hollywood equivalent, there are multiple love stories told in parallel here, so that if you’re bored by any one of them, there’s always another to distract you very soon.
The most well-developed and therefore poignant story is that of a Hong Kong single father (Jacky) who develops a budding romance with a foot masseuse (Rene) through text-messages. Both pretend to be more glamorous than their real-life personas, which is really a symbol of their mutual frustration of their circumstances. Besides being the most believable of the lot, Jacky and Rene’s genuinely likeable performances are also naturally endearing.
Less credible and also more clichéd are the other two Hong Kong romances- the first between an air-conditioner repairman (Nicholas) and a biker chick (Barbie) who for reasons first unknown likes to help dying people fulfil their last wishes; and the second between a food critic (Barbie) and an emotionally uptight sushi chef (Daniel sporting an ugly moustache) who refuses to acknowledge his feelings for her. Not only are they predictable, the script by Tony Chan and Lucretia Ho does not develop their relationship for the entire duration of the film, which leaves the inevitable happy ending hollow and ineffectual.
The same goes for the Mainland-based story of a boorish photographer (Duan) and his loyal assistant (Fu) who realises the folly of his arrogant ways when he starts to turn blind and so sets out on a search for a beautiful model he insulted. The premise itself sounds too coincidental to be true and the ensuring story can’t convince its audience otherwise. Faring only slightly better is the last story of a village boy (Jing) whose pursuit of a local factory girl (Angelababy) will depend on whether he can stand outside her workplace for 100 days under the blazing afternoon sun.
The blistering weather is also an excuse for all these love stories apparently- as co-directors Tony Chan and Wing Shya want you to believe that the growing temperatures (thanks to global warming) will ignite a romantic fever among all these characters. So everyone in the movie appears drenched in sweat, busy wiping their brow, and queuing up for ice-cream and the coveted splash in the pool. Despite the heat, the cast still manage to look fabulous onscreen, thanks to solid production values from d.p. Michel Sion and editor Li Wenders.
And that in itself is actually quite impressive, as the film looks as pretty and picture-perfect as its Hollywood counterparts. “Hot Summer Days” is best appreciated as a testament that Asia can do the fluffy ensemble rom-com genre as well as Hollywood can, complete with its inherent weaknesses. Now that we’ve made a point, it’s probably time to spend more effort actually developing these individual overlapping stories, because by the time the inevitable next such Asian piece of cinema comes along, audiences here will surely be more demanding of something more substantial.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
NIL.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Despite being presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, the audio is still heavily loaded front and centre in this dialogue-heavy movie. The back speakers only come alive during the obligatory pop songs and the film’s Latin-styled score. The visual transfer though is excellent, and the colours look rich and vivid onscreen.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Gabriel Chong
Posted
on 2 August 2010
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