AKA: I'll Call You.
Director: Tze Chung Lam.
Language: Cantonese.
Release Year: 2006.
Rating: * * * *
Romantic flicks are a dime-a-dozen commodity, and almost every film industry indulges in churning out movies of this genre more than any other. It’s the order of the majority demographics in any country, and no industry can afford to jeopardize the anticipated earnings from such a large contingent. However, this genre is also the most that gets plagiarized, ridiculed, picked apart, but most of the times, loved. This Hong Kong film is one of those unheard, smart, rom-com flick, that hasn’t got much recognition beyond the borders of its country, barring few avid cinemagoers who always manage to unearth such fine and satiating movie-watching experience (cough, narcissist).
Manny (Lik-Sun Fong), closing in on his thirties, hasn’t been served fairly in the love department. The last relationship he was in, turned out to be a heartbreaking experience when his girlfriend move to USA and got involved with someone else there. It’s been more than three years, and his love life hasn’t seen the flourish and greenery that he so longs for. Giving him company are his two fast buddies, none sharing any different fate for the time being. They all meet up daily at a bar, berating about the dearth of girls for them to keep company, and the inability on their part to withstand the brutal, disparaging nitpicking routine, which almost every girl goes about in her head. During one such random jaunt at a bar, Manny crosses paths with Karen (Viann Liang), a stunning lady, with a mercurial and an arrogant temperament. Her haughtiness is the product of her gorgeous looks, the attractive face of a hostess selling cheap knockoffs on TV shopping channel, and the fact that she’s aware of the debilitating effect she has on guys overall. However, she does seem to possess an iota of genuine desire to be really loved, but all of those emotions seemed to be smothered by her devil-may-care attitude, and the indifference she shows toward the guys who go out with her.
The aforesaid encounter between the two leads is furthered by a number of ensuing dates, where Manny’s exuberant and expectant self suffers at the apathetic and dismissive hands of Karen. She starts taking him for granted and orders him around, demanding him to keep her company at the dead of night, turning up late at their planned outings, and sometimes, even standing him up completely. A guy with a pinch of dignity and self-esteem would’ve dumped such a pain-in-the-neck character long back, but Manny is the desperate kind. He’s ready to be pushed around, become a doormat for Karen which she’d stomp on pretty regularly and wholeheartedly, and Manny is more than glad at his servility. Manny’s friends try to show him the pathetic soul he has become lately, always ignoring his friends and their traditional nights out, just to humor the overly domineering and self-conceited Karen. No doubt, Manny pays no heed to their insights, and continues with his job at bending backwards for his “love”. It’s not long before that Manny’s mythical viewpoint of his current relationship crumbles under the unforgiving and unloving reciprocation from Karen. On one such night out with Manny, Karen blatantly jeers him for his infantile standpoint about their relationship. She crushes Manny’s feeling, out in the middle of a street, stamps on them and then walks away.
Unable to face the heartache, Manny regresses into a dark corner, unwilling to climb out of the park pit. After languishing a healthy part of his teenage life, sulking and moaning for failing at love, Manny finally agrees to see the light of the day. And after some words of wisdom from his alter ego (more on that later), he digs his way out of the dour fortification, and take charge of his life again, by putting its priorities in order and getting on with it. After piecing himself together, Manny realizes that there’s more to life than just love, and that there are other ways of being content. He no more neglects his friends and their emotions, becomes an archetype of dutiful son and more than an invisible worker at his office. Life, for Manny, is as beautiful as it could get. He does get opportunities at love, but nothing noteworthy, and it’s no longer tough on him to get over such failed relationships.
However, Manny still harbors a shred of feeling for Karen, but he isn’t hopeless enough to crawl back into that coldhearted lady’s arms. At his friend’s prompting, Manny does decide to call Karen, and ask for a night out. The date is set, but Manny doesn’t follow the same old routine of dressing up to his best, and meets Karen the way he prefers. Karen, after suffering quite a long string of setbacks, both on personal and professional front, has grown a bone of humility and a fair amount of morals. On this date, she’s the first one to arrive, she’s the one to foot the bill and is sporty enough to face flak for her previous behavior, without wanting to chew the critic’s head off. Playing hard-to-get has taken a toll on Karen and she’s no longer the fastidious girl, picking guys apart and brushing every guys’ feelings off. In fact, the table seems to have turned, and Karen has been on the receiving end more than on couple of occasions.
Here, the movie gets more mature and we see how things just fall in their places when you’re yourself, and when there’s no emotions at stake, or no hearts at jeopardy. Both, Manny and Karen, are at ridiculous ease when they’re with each other, sharing unflinching camaraderie, with a very bleak possibility of hurting each other. They’d never been this happy when they were going out. The movie veers into the direction of its climax, when one of the leads’ past love returns. The development may sound awfully stereotypical, but climax is a very well-written and a very strongly executed portion of the movie.
The execution by the director was pretty silly and amateurish in the first half of the movie. And it’s obvious that he used all such tricks intentionally. He wanted to convey the animation, the enthusiasm and the colours that fill a guy’s life when he finds someone. How silly a guy can become, blinded by something superficial, and how his towering expectations, when not met, could collapse on him, caving him for a long period of time. With bright photography and spirited score, the first one-third of the movie underlines the freshness and abundance that love brings along, and how that same milieu takes a turn for gloom and despair, when the same love leaves you stranded, bereft and forced to keep reality in check. The last one-third of the movie had very cleverly written elements and plots, with admirable character progressions and witty dialogues. The limelight shifted to the reality, and the director gave his two cents on love and its aftermath against the responsibilities in one’s life.
The movie utilized some innovative and experimental tricks to drive some point home. For instance, the first date between Manny and Karen was portrayed like some video game, with two tickers on either side of the screen: The first being for points and the second one being the number of lives left. Every right move made by Manny resulted in his points getting bumped up, and every caring act from Karen’s side would increase Manny’s number of lives. Even the walk down the road after their first date was shot in a very creative manner. Then there’s the scene, when Manny gets dumped and he retires to a place like dungeon in his head, with his buffed up alter ego (played superbly by Andy Lau) would sing depressing love songs, only to drive Manny more insane. Andy Lao also played the part of Manny’s conscience, always providing him with two options, and kept up the routine, until Manny finally chooses the right alternative. This whole part was played out as a hilarious and an ingenious parable. There were a handful of more scenes, permeated with sheer humor and tender moments of amateur love.
Lik-Sun Fong displayed credibility in his portrayal of a dumbfounded lover, unable to come to terms with reality, and the gradual strengthening in his character when he finally wraps his head around the stark realities of life. Viann Liang as the repulsive, mean, way-in-over-her-head Karen, really managed to get a rise out of me, hence proving that she did a fine job at her performance. But to me, true gems were Manny’s friends: Lee and Hong (Ka Tung Lam and Kwok-Kwan Chan). Their banters, absurd attempts at uncovering the philosophical aspects of love and the genuine advices they doled out to Manny, were a treat to the senses. Their tongue-in-cheek repartee and Lee’s deadpan humor while doing so, made the experience all the more enjoyable. With such a clever take on such an antique concept of love, infusing liveliness and imaginative techniques to make one’s point, the movie never falls short on any ground. It’s not a huge movie, with an arresting, labyrinthine plot. It’s a simple love story, served with fresh ingredients and laid out in its own unique way, sure to leave you appreciating its whole package when the meal is over.
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