Loving You (1995)


	Loving You		Return to Review Archive - L
	Year:	1995	Lau Ching-Wan
	Director:	Johnnie To Kei-Fung
	Action:	Yuen Bun
	Cast:	Lau Ching-Wan, Carman Lee Yeuk-Tung, Tou Chung-Wah, Ruby Wong Cheuk-Ling
	The Skinny:	Opaque but fascinating crime film/character drama. Lau Ching-Wan and Carman Lee are both excellent, as is Johnnie To's direction.
	Review by Kozo:	A Hong Kong Cinema change-up. Lau Ching-Wan is a despicable, seedy cop who womanizes, drinks, and neglects his wife (the radiant Carman Lee). Lau gets a Bullet in the Head from a nasty perp (Tou Chung-Wah) who has a personal vendetta against him. He finds himself incapacitated and needs Lee to take care of him, which is tough for him to take since she’s carrying another man’s child. Also, he loses his sense of smell and taste, and thus must learn to approach life differently. Like Regarding Henry, Loving You is about a guy re-evaluating his life, but it does so in a strange, detached way. Emotionally complex, the film is somewhat hard to read as more is shown rather than told. The storytelling can be frustrating, but it's almost infinitely more rewarding than the usual voice-over exposition you'd see in a picture like this. Credit director Johnnie To, who concentrates on effectively developing his characters. The only real flaw is cheesy montage music, which isn’t surprising from To. He has a real thing for montage, as he showed in the montage-a-minute-marathon that was Executioners. Still, this is a well constructed, perfectly paced film and To was rightfully awarded with a Best Director HK Film Award nomination. Lau Ching-Wan is terrific in a controlled, subdued performance that perhaps marks a turning point for his career. Carman Lee proves that she’s one of HK’s more underrated actresses. One of the best HK films of 1995 and definitely worth seeing. (Kozo 1996)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 3 NTSC Intercontinental Video, Ltd. 16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Dolby Digital Mono Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

		image courtesy of Mei Ah Laser Disc Co., Ltd.
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