Yesterday Once More | Lin Chun Gu, Andy Lau

Yesterday Once More | Lin Chun Gu, Andy Lau | Delightful

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Yesterday Once More

	Yesterday Once More Lin Chun Gu, Andy Lau Tai Seng, 2005 average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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Love Stuff

"Yesterday Once More" is a film that I really liked. Hong Kong director Johnny To gives Andy Lau the chance to perform in an amazing role and performance. Lau has starred in over 60 films and probably should be a household name in the U.S. too. I really enjoyed "Fulltime Killer," and this film gives him a chance to show quite a different side of his acting talents. He starts as a kind of double-o-seven rich playboy who steals for kicks. Highly intelligent, he pulls a rich heist with his wife who apparently tries to double-deal him. He divorces her but does not stop loving her. As Mrs. Do, Sammi Cheung is an attractive vivacious, somewhat emotionally vacuous, playgirl thief. When she announces her engagement to Steve, a deadheaded young man in search of a personality, she does so just to steal the family jewels -- and we're talking diamonds. This brings her ex-husband Andy Lau into play that devises an elaborate heist, all done with the objective of finding out whether his wife really loves him. What I most connected with in the film is the tremendous sense of love that the husband conveys for his wife, amidst a menagerie of entertainingly wild characters and absurd plot points about thieves. Watch the film for the 007 motif, enjoy its comedy, but ultimately prepare for the emotional wallop of some great love stuff. This is kind of like the Hong Kong version of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." Enjoy!

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Delightful

This delightful movie in the vein on Remington Steele and Moonlighting is brimming with lighthearted humor and clever action. Far more entertaining and accessible than the dreadful Mr and Mrs Smith. Haven't seen a film from Hong Kong this polished since John Woo's The Killer. Recommended.

(2.5 STARS) Mr. & Mrs. Thief and the Game of Love: Slightly Disappointing Romance from Johnnie To

`Yesterday Once More' is a romantic film about two professional thieves, Mr. To and Mrs. To (Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng) and the ever-changing love/hate relations between the lovers playing the game of love through stealing. Prolific director Johnnie To, usually known for stylish action films, gives us a romance about two lovers holding wine glasses, which re-unites the stars of `Needing You.' I found `Yesterday Once More' is a little disappointing because of its weak script, but it still has some good things in it.

Two years after the divorce with Mr. To over an `unfair' deal about stolen diamonds, we see gorgeous Mrs. To is about to jilt a rich mama's boy Steve. Steve offers an expensive necklace of his mother to her to be with her. She accepts his offer, and promises to marry him, but Mr. To, who hates the idea of her marrying again, steals the heirloom before she fakes a theft of it. Mrs. To knows exactly who did that, and Mr. and Mrs. To meet again and begin another game of love, loving or deceiving each other.

With whatever genre of film you might associate Johnnie To, it is clear that `Yesterday Once More' is not his best. The chemistry between Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng is there, but is not fully used, partly because we are not allowed to know much about the characters, or partly because their story is told in a very whimsical way. The director insists on the old-fashioned Hollywood-type glamour with the location of Italy, cars, furniture, wine, and race track, but they don't enhance the romantic mood of the two main leads who are themselves good, if not best. To make matters worse, the caper stories of the film are only rudimentary, nothing interesting except the last one.

In the second half of the film, the story (with a surprise or two) suddenly takes on a new and sadder look. It was not until then that the film starts to show the subtlety of the complicated relations between the man and woman. The last intricate con-game played by them represents the nature of their love effectively, but by then the film is nearly over.

Like Miike Takashi, another Asian talent, Johnnie To may be too prolific a director, making three or even four films in a year. As fan of his films, I'm not particularly against his making so many films, but as far as romantic films go, things are different. They need more sophisticated story, and such a story (or script) is hard to find. I don't say this is bad, but if you like the stars or the director, I'd rather recommend `Needing You.'

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reviews: page 1, 2

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