All About Love
All About Love is a sentimental love tragedy that borders on excess. Even with its stellar cast, including Andy Lau Tak-wah, Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin and Charlie Young Choi-nei, it fails to impress.
Lau plays two roles in the film: a workaholic doctor, Ko, who rarely has time for his young wife (Choi), and an award-winning hair stylist, Derek, whose spouse Sam (Young) is suffering from an incurable heart disease.
Sam gets a heart transplant, and the heart comes from Mrs Ko, who was killed in a car accident. The guilt-ridden Ko, knowing that the heart retains some of his wife's memories, decides to help Sam in repairing her rocky marriage.
There are some beautiful scenes, particularly the sequence in which Ko sneaks into Sam's home and is overwhelmed by memories of his wife.
MTV director-cum-filmmaker Daniel Yu convincingly portrays the feelings of pain and guilt suffered by a man who blames himself for his wife's death. Also, the scene in which Ko and Sam dance together has a fairytale air and is the most intense and emotional moment of the film.
But the film lacks the details that would make it a truly touching love story. The characters are too sketchy and one-dimensional to be believable. We are told little about the background of Mrs Ko and Sam, and as a result, no matter how many tears the characters have shed, the audience cannot connect with them.
To Lau's credit, he captures vividly the despair of Ko who tries to seek redemption by helping Sam, whose new heart is failing her. But he is restricted by a weak script and poor direction.
Choi, a member of the popular girl group Twins, delivers an average performance that should be enough to please her fans. But there is little chemistry between her and Lau.
Although the movie is disappointing, its message is sweet and heart-warming: there is always a second chance in love.
The film is showing now.
