SYNOPSICS
Ru guo · Ai (2005) is a Mandarin,Cantonese,English movie. Peter Ho-Sun Chan has directed this movie. Takeshi Kaneshiro,Xun Zhou,Jacky Cheung,Jin-hee Ji are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2005. Ru guo · Ai (2005) is considered one of the best Drama,Musical,Romance movie in India and around the world.
Nie Wen is a Mainland director who decides to make a film musical starring his Mainland girlfriend Sun Na and Hong Kong actor Lin Jian-dong. Unknown to him, Sun has met Lin before ten years ago when she was a cabaret singer in Beijing. The two had a relationship together then, when Lin was a film student. Ten years later, now a huge movie star, Sun refuses to acknowledge they have met before. Nie plans his musical, which includes a plot where a girl loses her memory and comes to live with a circus troupe. Sun plays the amnesiac girl and Lin her former boyfriend who tries to revive her memories. As the shooting of the movie starts, reel life and real life overlap. Lin tries desperately to win back Sun's lost love, while Nie discovers their past romance. Nie himself plays the role of the obsessive circus owner in the musical, who is involved in a love triangle. Just like in real life, he has Lin as his rival.
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Ru guo · Ai (2005) Reviews
Splendid !
Rather than calling "Perhaps love" a musical, it is better to call it a love story with musical elements. As far as that goes, the song and dance sequences are satisfying, although not elating. Like many that came before it (including Truffaut's "Day for night"), "Perhaps Love" is structured as a movie about making a movie. It manipulates the situation to its fullest by having the story in the movie that is being made replicate almost exactly the story of the people making it the director, male and female leads, in an all-too-familiar perpetual triangle. Crisp cutting traversing the three dimensions the making of the movie (the present), flashbacks (the past) and the story within the movie being made (the allegory) creates a fascinating kaleidoscope of lavish beauty from which emotions flare. Kaneshiro Takeshi and Zhou Xun, playing two top stars that shared a past that one tries to forget with icy resolution while the other clings on to with fiery desperation, work together splendidly to bring life to an often-told tale. Jacky Cheung cuts quite a powerful "Phantom" figure playing the director who brought the actress to fame and fortune. Ji Jin-hee is comfortable in a role of the muse in Tales of Hoffman, but appearing in many guises. The use of the trapeze in the grand finale is a clever move, bringing to mind quite a few classic movies with the circus as background. The mellowed ending lifts this movie one notch above conventional romance melodramas, sending the audience away with reflections on the protagonists' as well as their own fleeting passage through life.
The quality of the movie or the category of the movie?
Why do we like to put movies in categories? Why do we have to compare such a splendid movie with other musical movies? All movies are different. Just because Perhaps Love is not as musical as other musical movies does not mean it is worse than those movies. I personally loved the movie. the characters performed beautifully, the songs were original and empathetic. The plot seemed simple, yet complex and deep. The idea of 'film making' in a film is clever and well fitted. The costumes were designed exceptional as we see clear contrast between the past in BeiJing and the present new Sun Na. The introduction was philosophical. Life is a movie. you could be the protagonist on someone's movie, or just a glimpse of the face. The love between the 3 people seemed simple yet extremely complex. and the twist at the end of sad yet realistic. In conclusion, Perhaps Love is a masterpiece. it needs more explorations to be completely understand, but i think it's worthwhile. Good Job!
This movie is not a musical!
I love this movie. First of all, please do not compare it to Moulin Rouge. Yes, it's opening made it look like a boring musical, but actually the singing and dancing are just eye candies for the audience. The love story presented is simple. I don't even think it as a romance movie. I think of it more as a drama about love more. I guess the reason I felt this way is because I watched the Chinese version (better communication compared to English sub.) and I was in a situation that questioning my own love life. This movie gave me another perspective looking at love relationship. Don't you feel related to any one of them, or part of? How many of us really have something true? Why do you think Sun Na and Lin Jian Dong still break up at the end of movie? Answers can be diverse and it all depends on your own experience. Yes, Sun Na was once Jian Dong's true love. She messed it up. He loved her ten years ago and still presently, but more complicated with hatred, revenge. There is no way they will be together any more. It looks like the movie is talking about a love triangle, but I think it's talking about love in general. I relate it to real life. People can be running away not just from poverty, they can be running away from a bad love relationship, bad family relationship to start a new love relationship. How many of us had relationship like Sun Na and Nie Wen's? (Gain from each other's strength, not necessary in a bad intention.) I bet there are a lot. Anyway, the movie is beautiful. Zhou Xun has always been great. Takeshi did a good job in this film surprisly. Director Chan, I'm waiting for your next great work! No pressure :) When I got time, I will write more. See you.
A Nutshell Review: Perhaps Love
I fell in love with the introductory analogy. Life is like the movies, in which you are the director, producer and the star. In your life, there are other co-stars, and of course, that significant other. But what if you happen not to be sharing the limelight in your other's life? Editing is always a pain, and in the final product, you will then learn if you are sharing the same billing, get relegated to a cameo, or in the worst case, get cut out entirely and lie on the floor of the editing room. Similarly to my 2004 movie of the year, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this film too takes a look at the trying to forget someone in your life entirely. Except in this one, there is no faux-pas scientific methods, but done by sheer human will and pretense. This is a musical within a musical, and a beautifully choreographed one at that. First thoughts will be, hey, it looks like Moulin Rouge, with big colourful sets, dancers, singers, stunts, and songs with meaningful lyrics. Yes, and given similar themes like Love and Hate, but Perhaps Love tells its own story. The soundtrack befits the musical, and I won't be surprised if anyone adapts this for the stage too. Japanese heartthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro plays Lin Jian Dong, a struggling film student when he met his love in Beijing. When the film begins, he's already an accomplished actor, and chances upon that same love in his latest movie collaboration. He's not the least surprised at being given the cold shoulder, and goes all out to try and win her back. But exactly what his motivations are - love, revenge, closure, that one pleasure filled fling, remained to be seen. Much is said about his ability to sing (or lack thereof), but I felt that he sang convincingly in this movie, and fleshed out his role as the pained lover realistically. When his final intentions are revealed, you can't help but to emphatise - yes, that perhaps what he did was justified. Contrasting Kaneshiro's character is Jackie Cheung's Nie Wen, the auteur director with his mood swings. His current lover and muse is Jian Dong's love in Beijing, and he comes to discover this fact after filming begins. He feels cheated upon, hurt, and channels his raw emotions onto the film. There should be no doubt as to Cheung's singing prowess - powerful is the one word summed up, though I thought it's always the same song? Between the two male leads, his is surprisingly magnanimous, and shows true courage as compared to Jian Dong. Chinese actress Zhao Xun plays Sun Na, the woman caught between the two men. One is her lover in a past she wants to forget, while the other is her lover who brought her stardom in the present world. It's a highly complicated-in-emotions role, one which explores, and for those in love, might have felt in one way, or at some points in time. When you feel your love is holding you back, would you give it all up to pursue your dreams? Sun Na is one such woman, who will stop at absolutely no cost, and jump on every available opportunity presented, to seek fame and fortune. And it is she who walked out of Jian Dong's life at least twice, to be with an American director, and later, with Jian Dong's assistant director friend, before we currently see her in the present. Ignoring Jian Dong when they meet in their new film, she can't help but feel her icy walls being broken down by his persistence, though Jian Dong had assistance from Korean Jin Ji-hee's role as Montage, a spirit who interacts with all characters and weaves in and out of the plot, bringing about a feel that there's always that higher being involved in events that unfold in life. And the way the characters interact is probably fused so seamlessly into the musical, within the musical. Unable to express themselves freely, they do so through the musical's story, premise, and lines. It doesn't feel contrived, but the entire narrative seemed flawless. Even the flashbacks doesn't mar the pacing of the film, but brings about a natural progression and revelation of character development and events. Perhaps Love is a truly wonderful experience, especially for those who have been in the same ship before. Its ending isn't typical, but one which perhaps is the most realistic an ending can be for the characters involved. Peter Chan has crafted a beautiful masterpiece of a musical for the Hong Kong film industry. Catch this on the big screen before its run is over!
It will strike you right at your heart...
I saw this movie aboard the plane when I flew back from Beijing to Amsterdam. I saw it on a very bad small 10" (or so) screen, with crackly sound and with a lot of annoying kids around me. Still I have not enjoyed a movie this much for quite some time. It's much -and I really mean MUCH- better than most of the stuff Hollywood chunks out and I bought it on DVD the day I got back! For everyone who has ever felt the feeling of losing a love or having an unreachable love, this movie will be very recognizable. It greatly depicts the pain and suffering that can come from true love and although the movie isn't always as easy to follow, it will captivate you and keep you hooked right up to the end. Apart from the wonderful story, the great backgrounds and superb acting made me an instant fan of Asian cinema. I'd seen a couple of more well known Asian films (like Il Mare for example), but this one opened my eyes entirely. I hope to see more movies like this soon and I recommend it to anyone who can appreciate a good love story!