Cupid One (1995)


	Cupid One		Return to Review Archive - C
	Year:	1985	Mark Cheng and Sally Yeh
	Director:	Ringo Lam Ling-Tung
	Cast:	Sally Yeh (Yip Sin-Man), Mark Cheng Ho-Nam, Erik Chan Ka-Kei
	The Skinny:	Fluffy romantic comedy that turns into an overwrought melodrama thanks to the ever-personable Ringo Lam.
	Review by Kozo:	This early Ringo Lam film is a commercial romance, but one can see some of his overwrought directorial style seeping through Cupid One’s saccharine exterior. Sally Yeh is May, a spoiled heiress who stows away aboard the good ship Cupid One, which is en route to Thailand. May happened upon the ship after escaping the rather strange advances of her wimpy fiancé Erik Chan. Unfortunately, the captain of the ship is the rough but decent Keung (Mark Cheng), who’s her polar opposite. This is movieland, so opposites attract and soon their hatred gives way to burgeoning affection. When they finally land in Thailand, both must make a choice. For the most part the film is your typically breezy romantic comedy, and Sally Yeh gives a fun performance. However, when the Cupid One runs ashore the film does the same. The light comedic tone gives way to some hyperemotional soul searching as Keung struggles to reconcile his newfound love for May. The disc jacket for this film calls it a “surprisingly gentle romantic comedy,” but this IS NOT a gentle movie. When Keung goes all postal in his attempt to win May’s love, you gotta wonder if it was Ringo trying to draw a parallel between the lovestruck and the psychopathic (which would become his later forte). Actually, it’s arguable whether Keung really goes postal or not, but in Mark Cheng’s hands he becomes so overwrought and intense that he could give Travis Bickle a run for his money. In the end, the two get together but I was actually starting to wonder if it was really a good thing. This sort of over-the-top ending is typical of Hong Kong, and it’s either incredibly affecting or completely and totally insane. I lean toward the latter interpretation, but I can’t say I was disinterested. (Kozo 1999)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Deltamac Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

		image courtesy of Mega Star Video Distribution, Ltd.
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