Hot Summer Days
Tony Chan, Wing Shya
The story: As temperatures climb, passions boil over and five intertwining love stories play out in several cities across China. The couples include Jacky Cheung as an ersatz Ferrari driver, Rene Liu as a masseuse, Daniel Wu as a sushi chef and Vivian Hsu as a gourmet.
People meet cute, act cute and have cute epiphanies about love in this compendium of romantic tales. It can be too much to take, especially in the weaker segments.
But first, the good news. As a chauffeur and a masseuse, Cheung and Liu play their working-class characters with a welcome light touch. In particular, he makes you root for the single dad who tries to make ends meet while earning his daughter’s respect.
His romance begins when he sends Liu an SMS by mistake. This slowly develops into a friendship and then something more even though they both hide the truth about what they do. Yes, it is cute but the two actors have a charming chemistry together.
For the same reason, the segment with Jing Boran as a young man working in a sleepy little shop and Angelababy as a factory worker clicks.
She agrees to be his girlfriend if he stands in the hot sun for 100 days. Your eyes may roll at this outlandish request but there is a sweet simplicity to the story and they have the excuse of youth on their side.
Which is more than can be said for Hsu’s character, who behaves like a giddy, petulant schoolgirl instead of a woman in love.
She also happens to be nicknamed Wasabi while she calls her sushi chef love interest (Wu) Soy Sauce. The message here being that if it is written in the condiments, it is clearly meant to be.
Another weak link in the chain focuses on an overbearing photographer (Duan Yihong) who starts to go blind after he fires a model (Michelle Wai). Believing he was cursed by her, he and his assistant (Fu Xinbo) try to track her down.
Besides sticking out like a sore thumb in terms of mood and plot, it also seemed like there was more of a connection between the photographer and his assistant than in the forced, late-in-the-game romance which pops up from nowhere.
Given the film’s myriad threads, it is hard for actors to stand out but Nicholas Tse manages to do so as a kind-hearted mechanic, even though it is a variation of the role he recently played in the historical thriller Bodyguards And Assassins (2009).
Alas, he is paired in an unimaginative scenario with a tough biker chick (Barbie Hsu) who has a heart of gold.
Speaking of standing out, the much- missed Maggie Cheung was luminous in a cameo as a heartbroken woman.
Some credit has to go to co-director Wing Shya, one of Hong Kong’s top celebrity photographers, for making everyone look good and lovingly art- directing all those drops of perspiration.
But surely there is more to love than glossy cutesiness.
(ST)