A ROOF WITH A VIEW, with Tony Leung Kar-fai, Veronica Yip Yuk-hing, Nonie Tao, Ray Lui Leung-wai and Carina Lau. Directed by Tony Au Ting-ping. Category II. Showing at Gala Circuit. I HAVE never been a great fan of Tony Au's films. All too often theirglossy surface is undermined by stylish nothingness (Dream Lovers ), pseudo romanticism (The Last Affair ) or yuppy-ish pretension (I'm Sorry ).
His last film, Au Revoir Mon Amour (1991), which took 21/2 years to make, earned him a place alongside Wong Kar-wai as the territory's most self-indulgent film-maker.
It comes as a big surprise then after a two-year hiatus to hear that Au's latest film, A Roof With a View, was wrapped in 11/2 months at a cost of just $10 million - and with that budget including the fees of two of the biggest stars today, Tony Leung and Veronica Yip.
Au also seems to have done some neat arm-twisting and persuading by assembling an all-star cast of cameo roles which includes Carina Lau and a scene-stealing Ray Lui.
And the good news is A Roof With a View is Au's best film, and his slickest, since he burst on to the scene as Ann Hui's art director in 1983 with The Last Affair, which starred Chow Yun-fat.
This film sees Au shifting from his usual idiosyncratic visual style to a no-nonsense story-telling approach, which he handles quite well.
A Roof is a charming, subtle class comedy, and tells of a love story between a lonely cop (distraught after his best pal committed suicide), played by Leung, and a naive car saleswoman, Yip, who has a three-year-old son (played by Yip's real life nephew,Ho-yin). Yip's husband (Lui) has walked out on her and she has to fend for herself.