LOVE IS (HK 2008)

Poster

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Info

Title: Love Is

Country: Hong Kong

Year: 2008

Box Office: N/A

Director: Unknown (Feel free to email me)

Producer: Unknown (Feel free to email me)

Writer: Unknown (Feel free to email me)

Starring: Leung Ngai Ling, Kwong Wa, Katherine Hung (List not complete)

Genre: God/Love/Romance/Meaning of Life

Gallery

Trailer

Review

Probably the best HK Christian movie ever…

Review by Neo: In just a couple of weeks, Neo have found the answer to the very question he raised a little over a week ago in the well meaning yet atrocious, Sparkle In The Dark. A well meaning movie can be a good one and the latest venture from the Christian funded, Love Is fulfils that requirement with the incentive of actually touching with the audience’s heart. Perhaps it’s been too long since the well made 2004’s Miracle Box starring Neo TVB’s favourite starlet in Ada Choi. The current film takes an entire cast from TVB’s new generation and plucks them into the preceding. The result is a film that the young and old generation can both embrace together and perhaps learn a bit from it in the process. Then again, if this turned out to be a bad movie, Neo would probably be claiming that Christians are spending money to market this religion, could have been put to better use of fund raising for the earthquake victims in China. As it turns out, it is a good movie, so Neo have no such complains.

Once in a while, it is good to witness a movie that allows one to think and ponder upon the very existence of our own life. As a person who believe in God, ever since the day, the current reviewer is born, every now and then, Neo would seem to have lost faith or may be a better word to describe it as pushing God down the list of most important events. With that being said, it’s been a long time since Neo have last stepped into a youth group or church. Frequently making the excuses for himself, of Friday nights being better for partying, late night karaoke, more drinks and clubbing, then come Sunday, with the excusable due cause of staying up too late on Saturday night. As somebody once said, everything happens for a reason. Perhaps, the linkage of Neo playing soccer for his youth group last Sunday afternoon and now watching this flick last night, all happened to serve as a reminder.

Enough of that self-referential and let’s storm back to the movie itself. What sets Love Is apart from other well meaning like-wise genre flick is the down to earth realism and showing issues that can relate to the new generation? For most people who never believe in the existence of God, the most prominent question that comes to mind is answered in quite possibly in a perfect cinematic fashion. People often say that we can never see the wind, but yet when a feather is blown across the sky, one cannot stop saying how beautiful it is. It is these little hearts felt moments that all adds up to the definition of a good movie.

Love Is also deals with relevant themes of love, the issue of breaking up, the right time to let go of someone and the time to persist with something. Breaking up is a part of the learning process of being able to truly love someone. In reality, it is really nobodies fault when a relationship ends. No matter how the break up comes to be, it happens for a reason and that reason may feel inadequate to some, but God have taught us the famous phrase: “thou shall not judge one another”. What is important is rather to smile about the past, learn from it and embraces the future. Another point taken from the movie is the issue of letting go. The following phrase summarise it perfectly, there is a time to be stubborn/hang on to someone/something and also a time for letting go and moving on in life. It goes back to a Neo’s saying from ages ago, “to pursue a dream is hard, but letting go of a dream is even more difficult”.

The middle aged Kwong Wa persists with his passion and love of cinema and not unlike Neo; he just doesn’t know when to give up. There is no question that Neo is passionate about HK cinema and loves expressing his at times insignificant opinions. It is not a question of why he is pursuing such a path, but rather if the path he have chosen is worthy of pursuing. Despite the ups and downs of HK cinema of the past 5 years, from the rock bottom moment when William Hung stepped into the industry to the high point in the likes of Wong Kar Wai, Andy Lau and co. While many may think that Neo is wasting his time on an industry that churn out more bad films than good ones, words cannot describe the feelings that Neo’s feel when he witness a movie that is worthy of watching.

When the time is right, the review will end and Neo feels that he have already spoken what he wanted to. As a result, the bottom line question goes back to a simple question, is the movie worth seeing. For Christian faithfuls, it is a must, but luckily, Love Is isn’t like the normal movie made for Christian, but rather there is enough for everyone. In fact, Neo’s dad watched this movie just a couple of days ago and so that probably answers your question. All in all, Love Is is a perfect example of how well meaning movies can be a good movie and probably one that anyone can take something away from it, whether it is minor or significant… (Neo 2008)

I rate it 8/10