Rose Rose I Love You
Reviewed by YTSL
The fact of that which is the first of two loose
sequels to "92 La Legendary Rose Noire" having raked in a substantial HK
$21,929,420.00 at the local box office attests to its having attracted a
large number of people to go see it on a big screen. Whether or not
many of the audience of the 1993 movie (which seems to be both a piece of
nonsense comedy as well as loose homage to the popular "Black Rose and White
Rose" 1960s Cantonese TV show) had as satisfying a viewing experience as
Joseph Fierro -- who pronounced it to be "One of my all-time favorites" --
is something that I have to admit to wondering though. And should it
turn out to be so that they really did find much to love about this offering,
then it must be due in large part to its being a sterling example of the
kind of work described in an academic article entitled "Nostalgia and Nonsense"
-- that can be found in the 21st Hong Kong International Film Festival's
"Fifty Years of Electric Shadows" publication -- as helping "to construct
and/or reproduce a distinct hermeneutic community of film viewers bound together
by a shared Hong Kong culture inaccessible to outsiders" (Linda Chiu-Han
Lai, 1997:95).
Otherwise, this non-Hong Konger cannot account for why it is that unlike
an apparent whole host of others, she was left feeling so unentertained --
as well as distinctly unimpressed -- by ROSE ROSE I LOVE YOU. Putting
this disappointingly negative reaction in some (other) context, here's also
pointing out that I: Did like the earlier Jeff Lau directorial effort
whose success spawned this Jeff Lau production (whose director is Jacky Pang);
and also generally am a fan of its five leading cast members (only one of
whom -- Tony Leung Kar Fai -- was actually reprising a role he had inhabited
in 1992). Truly, it's still difficult for me to believe that I found
a movie that stars Kenny Bee, Carina Lau, Veronica Yip and Simon Yam together
with Big Tony to not be enjoyable.
To be fair, ROSE ROSE I LOVE YOU did start off promisingly enough:
With Simon Yam's somewhat maniacal Micky escaping from the prison in which
he had been incarcerated after having been arrested two years earlier by
Tony Leung Kar Fai's Officer Keith Lui Kee; and the latter getting assigned
-- along with his professional rival as well as personal friend, Kenny Bee's
Officer Leung Sing Bo -- to go undercover to track down the fugitive.
Surmising that Micky will seek to contact his old flame, a teacher named
Pearl Chan (played by Carina Lau), the two police detectives find ways to
get -- and doggedly stay -- physically close to physically attractive her.
At this juncture in the story, things should have started to get funny (or
interesting). However, many of the extremely loose plot's conceits
and twists struck me instead as illogical and plain silly. A case in
point: When Officer Lui wanted to take over residency of the apartment
located next to Pearl's, rather than straightforwardly seek permission to
do such from its inhabitant, he creates a farcical situation in which the
innocent party -- who is conveniently found to be prone to having amnesia
-- cedes his home premises to the conniving cop because he thinks that Officer
Lui is his gay lover. Seeing as Officer Leung's plan involved standing
in front of Pearl's moving car, pretending to be hit by it, and counting
on the woman to be guilt-stricken and nice enough to take the poor illegal
immigrant from Mainland China -- that he was pretending to be -- into her
home for a few days (while his "injuries" heal), it should be apparent that
other strands of ROSE ROSE I LOVE YOU are apt to be as nonsensical as well
as be further examples of needlessly convoluted thinking.
The more layers of story and number of subplots -- including one in which
Veronica Yip's Beauty character tries multiple times and unsuccessfully to
commit suicide -- ROSE ROSE I LOVE YOU is revealed to possess, the more ridiculous
matters get, and the more buried becomes the original storyline involving
the two detectives, a fugitive, his gal and a valuable gem (called the Malay
Star) whose theft the jewel thief was sent to prison for. As for the
Black Rose and White Rose (two female Robin Hoods in their 1960s incarnation
but just outlaw types -- who also seek to get their hands on the Malay Star
-- in this production), suffice to say that they -- at least not in their
masked and tight costumed forms -- are hardly the main focus of the film.
This is a great pity; not least since the two stylishly choreographed fights
between the agile Roses were among the few high points for me of this scattershot
offering (with the otherwise lame movie's too rare other inspired moments
consisting of Kenny Bee's fending off Simon Yam -- who was expertly making
like Jet Li's Wong Fei Hung with an umbrella -- in a clumsy but effective
manner akin to Jackie Chan, and a mimed musical duet between Kenny Bee and
Carina Lau).
My rating for the film: 3.5