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About Love (2005)

About Love (2005)

GENRESRomance
LANGJapanese,Mandarin
ACTOR
Bo-lin ChenMavis FanJoanna FengXiaodong Gu
DIRECTOR
Ten Shimoyama,Chih-yen Yee,1 more credit

SYNOPSICS

About Love (2005) is a Japanese,Mandarin movie. Ten Shimoyama,Chih-yen Yee,1 more credit has directed this movie. Bo-lin Chen,Mavis Fan,Joanna Feng,Xiaodong Gu are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2005. About Love (2005) is considered one of the best Romance movie in India and around the world.

Drama about queer woman and the challenge of forming a family. Themes such as motherhood, sexuality and discrimination are mixed. At the center stands the bisexual lawyer Macy, who reverts on ex-girlfriend Anita when both are pregnant.

About Love (2005) Reviews

  • Love comes in various shapes

    PiranianRose2006-02-05

    Recently, we have noticed an increasing trend in multinational productions featuring short films by several directors. For example, we have Three, Three Extremes, Eros, and the BMW Films. Actually such practice was not uncommon in Europe in the 60s; the difference is that Asian directors were overlooked back then (with the possible exception of Japanese directors), and are now usually at the forefront of these films. ABOUT LOVE is a 3-part romantic film featuring the talent of China, Japan, and Taiwan -- although the names would not be as famous as the directors of Three Extremes. In each short film, there is a He and a She, and one is always Japanese, the other Chinese. All 3 are highly evocative, although each part evokes distinct emotions. The first short film is an upbeat fairytale from Ten Shimoyama (St. John's Wort). In Tokyo, the story begins with a woman Michiko receiving a phone call from Tecchan, while going through her daily wandering in the midst of 20 million people. It has been 1320 hours since her boyfriend failed to return, and her boyfriend just ended their 3-year relationship with a 4 second phone call. She finds comfort from a Chinese student (Chen Bo-lin of BLUE GATE CROSSING) who posts drawings on her door, drawings of her gradually recovering. This part is short and sweet, filled with the wonderful nightscape of Chen Bo-lin riding through Tokyo in solitude. The super evocative music perfectly complements the imagery. One word to describe part 1: Fairytale. [10/10] The second segment actually precedes the first part in terms of time line. In Taipei, unable to sleep, a woman spends all night pounding nails into a bookshelf to release her frustration. She calls Tecchan (whose voice we hear in part 1) on the phone to come over. She doesn't speak Japanese, while his Chinese proficiency is probably 5%, but that doesn't stop them from attempting to communicate. In the hands of Yee Chin-yen (dir: BLUE GATES CROSSING), this part has a more experimental style, featuring super lengthy takes and not-so-smooth cuts. The style, along with the emotionally unstable and disillusioned protagonist, are bordering Wong Kar Wai territory. The most memorable scene from the movie can be found in this segment: in a 3-minute scene, he tries to deliver her a message in Chinese. They go back and forth decoding the exact message, full of repetition, but she knows that he is just trying to make her feel better; he is helping her to keep the last inch of hope alive. The result is both hilarious (esp if you know the Chinese language) and heartfelt. For those who have seen BLUE GATES CROSSING, it's the equivalent of the lengthy chair-pushing scene, but here the repetition is even more striking. This segment illustrates the impossibility to let go, and what one can do to fill the emptiness. The main characters' complexity are also the strongest here. Feelings of loss, missing, incomplete, dependency, vulnerability, longing are inevitable. [9/10] (I took off one point for his not only frustrating, but also irritating attempt at speaking Chinese. It goes beyond believable sometimes) Our last stop is Shanghai. The life of working class girl YunYun has been lacking, until the arrival of a Japanese teacher. Instead of going to school, she is working as cashier at her home store, and studying at home. At some point, he stole her heart, but he is too busy fulfilling his dream (for which he came to Shanghai) to notice. His ex-girlfriend also waited for him, but she realized it was only his dream, not hers. For YunYun, love hurts. One year later, he returns to Shanghai, to finally discover the true love that he missed. And yet, the walls of YunYun's family residence has been crumbled, the neighborhood nonexistent. In the midst of 10+ million people, how can he find this girl whose heart he melted, and finally grant her the comfort of being in his arms? One word summary for segment 3: poignant. [8/10] 3 flavors of love, 3 unforgettable experiences. Romance doesn't get much better than ABOUT LOVE.

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  • Finally, some Chinese actors/actresses who can act

    chaoticans2005-08-07

    Just to clarify any accusation of me being stereotypical, I am a Chinese, born in Shanghai. I moved to Canada when I was 8, and for the next decade I followed the Chinese cinema with diminishing enthusiasm. Its probably because of the pathetic profitability, due to piracy, Chinese movies suffer from lack of originality and depth. In the romance genre, its almost always about love triangle, shy girls and guys, rebellion against family, and etc. Lately, I have spread my horizon towards other Asian films, namely Korean. Films like One Fine Spring Day, Il Mare, Christmas in August, Harmonium in My Dream, all have a single important property, implicity. These films fully utilizes silence, gesture, quiet background music, and scenery to illicit a quiet understanding of what the character is feeling. Now, finally China catches onto this new trend, much unlike the Hollywood's CGI, $20 million salary actors, and explosions. Now, about the movie, each story is unique in its own ways, and together, compliments each other. Possible Spoiler******** Tokyo - This is story that trades affection for passion. There is no steamy love scene. Instead it present a companionship. The guy is alone in a 20 million people city, barely able to communicate. The girl suffers from a recent breakup. Unique feature: The photos taken showing the two people constantly close, but never meeting each other. The flip papers, very original. TaiPei - Although this story contains passion, it is ultimately about companionship if not friendship. As the story progress, you can really feel the torment in the girl. The insomnia, the rebound, the desperation of getting back together, is perfect. Many firms would have overdone it. The guy's understanding and his determination to help, is both touching and hilarious. Unique feature: the comic relief of their dance, the tunnel scene. Shanghai - Since this is my hometown, it has a very special place in my heart. The laundries along the street, the bickering of the mother, and the wasteland caused a sea of memories to rush back. The secret love of this story is extremely subtle and overwhelming. The girl's attention to detail, tone of her voice, and since this is probably her first love, it is very innocent. Of the three male actors in the three stories, the guy in this story may be weakest character. His breakup is not nearly as powerful as the prior two. Unique features: The goodbye btw the girl and guy, the reattachment of the letter(which I am amazed that the guy did not find suspicious, considering she asked him to translate), and the street(amazing that the filming crew could find place so quiet and undisturbed by modernization in Shanghai).

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  • Found in translation

    harry_tk_yung2005-05-03

    This is one of those three-in-one movies. While the three stories, which take place in three Asian cities, are loosely linked, they are nowhere comparable in complexity to the essentially interlocking stories in 21 Grams. As the matter of fact, the links are not at all necessary, as the stories are independently intact. The links, I suppose, are put there to extract the ooh's and aah's from people who dig such things. Nor is the structure anywhere near the brilliance of Amores Perros. Although the title is "About Love", the stories touch more on the "pre-love" sentiments sometimes called infatuation, that delicate "click" that starts a bitter sweet relationship which, in time, may or may not blossom into love. Equally interesting, as my summary line suggests, is that aspect of cultural and language barrier that is quite similar to what we see in Japanese Story. Here, however, the gap is smaller as the encounters are within Asian cultures, in each case between two young people, one Chinese and one Japanese. In all three cases, one of the two is going through a tough period after a breakup. Each story, however, has its own unique flavor. In Tokyo, he is a Chinese computer graphic artist seeking to enrich his exposure while she is a Japanese painter struggling to recover from a broken relationship. This is the simplest and sweetest of the three stories, starting with hidden mutual attraction and ending in their first meeting. This is also the only one of the three stories with a "sub-plot" (a really glorified use of the term) of his friendship with two other art students, both girls, one Chinese and one Japanese. In Taipei, she is a local girl suffering from a broken heart and he is a Japanese visitor she asks in the middle of the night to help putting up a wall unit. This is the only story with a scene of brief libido drive which, however, quickly subsides. The rest of the story is on his helping her by asking her ex-boyfriend whether there is a chance of getting back together. Among the three, this is the story that plays most on the language barrier thing, with some absolutely hilarious scenes resulting. In Shanghai, he is a Japanese student renting a room from her mother. She probably has a crush on him at first sight but keeps it deeply hidden when she sees how devoted he is to his girlfriend. But when he gets a postcard from the girlfriend ending their relationship, her attraction to him intensifies, although she never reveals it. This is the most poignant of the three stories. Romance aside, this story also takes a quick jab at the maddening scene of urban development of Shanghai. This thoughtful film by three capable Asian directors should not fail to delight, even if not enthrall. Starring: In Tokyo - Ito Misaki, Chen Bo-lin In Taipei - Kase Ryo, Mavis Fan In Shanghai - Tsukamoto Takashi, Li Xiaolu Directors: Shimoyama Ten, Yee Chih-yen, Zhang Yibai

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  • Realistic portrayal of romantically challenged men

    sangos1232012-06-02

    The movie's male characters were a real pain to watch: Tokyo - All the guy had to do was to ask the girl out on a date. Then put the brakes on with with a rebound girl. Cause the girl just broke-up and then the boyfriend wants to get back.....nothing good for our hero. Taipei - Ughhh! this guy would kill his mom for that girl. It was painful to watch Mr Blind running errands for a girl who has zero interest in him. Looks like he is doomed for ever after the closing shot Shanghai - Mr Samurai if you liked the girl you should have asked for her cell phone number. It is as simple as that. Great acting about clueless men!!!

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