Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Perhaps Love is one of those movies that gets better with age. 6 years ago, I first popped in the huge DVD box set and honestly not only did I not get it, but it was a snooze-fest. That's coming from someone who enjoys and embraces Wong Kar Wai movies since the tender age of 17 years old. Something about musical and whatever, this film just didn't click. Now fast forward the time machine and countless experiences, it is 2011. Perhaps Love is not just any other good film, but it is a wonderful, emotional and simply amazing movie experience. It is a film that constantly makes you think, reflect and the inner turmoil of Jacky Cheung, Zhou Xun and Takeshi Kaneshiro are all heart wrenchingly felt. The musical aspect adds to the atmosphere and the story telling, in fact Jacky Cheung's role as the present lover who can do nothing about his partner being unfaithful is most likely his most difficult and complicated role to date. Zhou Xun is amazing as always, but it is Kaneshiro that really surprises me. His eyes hides years of sadness, frustration and unrequited love, is simply breathtaking to endure. In creating Perhaps Love, director and producer Peter Chan has created something very special, immensely original and startlingly realistic. This is truly one of those films that will be re-watched again and again in the years ahead. Quite frankly it is a small piece of cinematic gem… Neo rates it 9.5/10www.thehkneo.com

Perhaps Love is an unusual film from the East in that it is a musical. Jacky Cheung plays an acclaimed movie director, Nie Wen, who gave the major break to his girlfriend Sun Na (Zhou Xun) years ago. Once again, he's cast her in a musical film which tells of a love triangle between the leading lady to be played by Sun Na, her former boyfriend played by Lin Jian-Dong (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and a circus director played by Nie Wen. Little does Nie Wen know that there are too many similarities between his script and real life, as Sun Na and Lin Jian-Dong have a past from 10 years before.Our film unravels, showing the parallels between Nie Wen's film and flashbacks of the story between Sun Na and Lin Jian-Dong. Despite the potential for it being clichéd and full of the boring old scenes from other romantic stories, it does turn out to be innovative and full of a few twists to keep the interest going. Plus Nie Wen's musical film gives some beautiful songs and choreography that occasionally bridge fictional and real life, so good in fact, that they would fit in well in some good West End/Broadway musicals.Jacky Cheung, fresh from his almost endless tour round Asia in the stage musical production, Snow.Wolf.Lake, demonstrates in the movie why he is the king of the musical stage in Asia. His unique, powerful singing voice shines like a heavenly king's should. Takeshi Kaneshiro was a pop star in his youth and sings well (and just in case you wondered, not at all like the drunken scene in House Of Flying Daggers when Zhang Ziyi dances). But the acting honours go to Zhou Xun, who didn't actually have many singing parts, but her acting shone through as exceptional. She effectively plays three characters in this movie (Sun Na in her youth and as the diva, and the character in Nie Wen's film), and she makes the transition between those characters so effortlessly. She is for me a real talent in the making, a Zhang Ziyi but with real acting ability aside from looking innocent. It is no wonder then, that she won the HK Film Critics Award in 2006 for best actress, beating a whole host of stars and is up for the same category the coveted Hong Kong Film Awards in April 2006.Peter Chan's visionary directing is as strong as ever. The film has some amazing sets, costumes and choreography that brings it to life. The cinematography is almost Christopher Doyle-esquire. Given Chan's other recent success (as producer) being Dumplings in the Three... Extremes films, I'm now looking forward to what Chan has to offer next.The film is bound to create some more interest in Chinese musicals in the future, and I'm hoping that we'll see a film version of Jacky Cheung's Snow.Wolf.Lake. And there is an appetite for it internationally too, as Perhaps Love was widely praised when it closed the 62nd Venice Film Festival. In Hong Kong, it received good reviews, is nominated for 11 HK Film Awards and was Hong Kong's official entry into the Oscars (although it hasn't been nominated) This is a gorgeous film and definitely worth watching. One for an emotional tug on the musical heartstrings.

This movie is a stunning masterpiece that showcases a whole new versatility for Asian Cinema. It takes the brash exuberance of Moulin Rouge, the musical-bizaro world of Cirque du Soleil, the color palate of Amelie and ratchets up the imagery and the volume to achieve new heights in cinematography. Farah Kahn leaps to the top of the list of my favorite choreographers of this new century. Easily some of the smoothest vocalists of China's pop and ballad scene have been assembled plus a handful of triple-threat actors weigh in to truly pull off this brave work. This is a beautiful film and my favorite foreign film of the new year.

Musicals, are almost a completely new genre in modern HK films. Bearing that in mind, the performance in this movie is satisfactory, and at times you might be able to find something surprisingly good. Having said so, I do feel that when I'm talking about a musical film, I'm seeing movements, dances, flashes and swiftness. This I find a bit lacking in the film, and the music itself doesn't really make an impression. I agree with other comments in here that the main characters should be more involved when in the "musical mode". The film successfully created a sense of deep sadness thoroughly, from beginning to end, oozing out from EVERY character. But really, the story is extremely simple. It brought on the heartache from the very beginning and it was just there until the last minute of the film. If you enjoy such tear-jerking moments you will like it, but for me, I soon started to long for something....some sort of happenings to fill up the gaps between the numbers. That brings us back to the music, because if the numbers are good enough the audience would soon forget the plot. In terms of singing performance, Jacky C obviously steals the light from everybody else. In fact, it is just a one-horse race. The rest of the cast have easier scores, probably due to their vocal limitations. But this film does give a different flavour from the recent Hollywood mainstream musicals. It is more feminine, more subtle, and perhaps that would work better for the markets over here.