Okinawa Rendez-vous

Romantic comedies seem to be back in vogue in HK again and director Gordon Chan appears to have made the light-hearted switch from his recent action outing, "&&ID=V1899||Name=2000 A. D.&&" - like fellow HK auteurs $$ID=Johnnie To$$ (Milkyway team in tow) shifting from neo-noir to the breezy romps of "&&ID=V2673||Name=Needing You&&" and "&&ID=V2850||Name=Help!!!&&" and $$ID=Jingle Ma$$ from the frenetic pace of "&&ID=V2509||Name=Tokyo Raiders&&" to "Summer Holiday".

The results are a quirky romantic comedy with interesting characters, lots of dialogue, mostly smart, occasionally plodding - about a heist that doesn’t quite take place - set amidst the backdrop of a breezy, balmy Okinawan holiday resort, with shady Yakuza dealings. $$ID=Leslie Cheung$$ is in full matinee idol swagger as Jimmy Tong a master thief, who is in town to exchange the stolen diary of Yakuza ganglord, Sato (played to bleary eyed effect by Kato Masaya) for a hefty bounty. $$ID=Tony Leung Kar Fai$$ making a welcome reappearance, plays Tat, a nerdy filing clerk in the HK police department, with higher aspirations - namely to crack a high profile case by ensnaring Jimmy - who happens to be holidaying in the same locale. Tony Leung gives a toned down variation of the geeky deadpan delivery he popularized in "The Legendary La Rose Noire 92". He is accompanied by longtime girlfriend Sandy - $$ID=Gigi Lai$$ with full wide eyed innocence - in the phase of relationship evaluation and her pal Cookie. This menage-a-trois is completed by $$ID=Faye Wong$$ - her first onscreen appearance since $$ID=Wong Kar Wai$$'s "&&ID=V1921||Name=Chungking Express&&" - as Jenny, Sato's moll gone incognito with the cash due to Jimmy.

Their paths intertwine with both male leads falling for Jenny while plotting a path that is much ado about nothing. Tat masquerades clumsily as a fictitious expert criminal to lure Jimmy and his accomplice Kuk B (erstwhile $$ID=Wong Jing$$ collaborator and lookalike Vincent Kuk) into a compromising situation with plans to incriminate them in the process. The ludicrous and unlikely crime – stealing fighter planes from a nearby naval base. Jimmy and Kuk B play along with the hapless Tat, suggesting a heist of their own - robbing a small local bank - while waiting for Sato to deliver their stash. No mere coincidence that Jenny's apartment is their access point to the bank - separated by a mere wall. Both Tat and Jimmy are swept along by their efforts at wooing Jenny, with Tat rather insensitively deciding to dump Sandy. All this leading to an unexpected ending of which boy gets which girl. Oh and the planned heist - a literal anti-climax.

The entire set has a relaxing "Beach Boys" vibe - from the swaying palms, balmy evenings, to designer coordinated Hawaiian shirts and resort wear, read cool khakis and earthy neutrals, (product-placed) Birkenstock sandals and Prada shades.

Hole-ridden plot aside, Gordon Chan shows his immaculate eye for graphic detail with a litter of cinematic references. Tat's state of mind and his love life are reflected in the didactic titles of the pulp fiction he reads. In a scene where Jimmy first meets Sato, he is led by a black-suited Yakuza henchman, along a rainy lighthouse path. Jimmy, ever cool and nonchalant walks aloof in (designer) beachwear in the rain - a stark contrast to the somberly attired Yakuza, all wielding dainty clear parasols. The seemingly childish antics of the Japanese gangsters - Sato's secret diary contains his sexual exploits rather than criminal activities; his embarassing displays of unrequited love over Jenny; his goony sidekicks waiting in tow, yawning in an amusement arcade, as he woos his love, playing a silly disco dancer game - are funnily clever nods to 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano's "Sonatine". A funny side character is found in Jenny's Japanese landlady, a girl with a penchant for HK triad movies. A fleet of bulky, souped-up utility vehicles traversing the cramped streets of the small resort town, all in search of a lost love is perhaps a comical take on "The French Connection". A tad overdone are the "Top Gun" derivatives - fighter plane sequences (perhaps leftover from "2000 A. D."); Jimmy, wolfish grin in place, slickly hamming it up in a vintage roadster and the closing sequence where a solitary Jimmy laments his loss of Jenny, who eventually returns to slow-dance to strains of "The Great Pretender" from a juke box (one can almost hear The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" next on the queue).