above: my grandfather at 27 years old
below: actors of the movie, "Perhaps Love" by Peter Chan
Yesterday I saw the 2005 movie, Perhaps Love by the remarkable Hong Kong filmmaker, Peter Chan. It is a Chinese musical about love with all the emotions wrapped up like a futon, folded away in the past and unraveled for all to see. I was smitten. I have seen endless Bollywood movies but never a Chinese version. It was a Bollywood meeting of the movies Crouching Tiger and Moulin Rouge on a sunset boulevard in Hollywood.The stars were superbe: from left to right - Jacky Cheung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhou Xun and Ji Jin-Hee. The story is about a bittersweet romance trying to re-enkindle itself. I like happy endings. The angst in this film was just a bit too much for me. Yet the dancing and singing totally riveted me, the range of emotions and images overwhelming. My mother who loved movies would have been amazed at these Asian actors. How often she wished she had known her handsome, dashing Chinese father who died at the age of 28! The romantic stories wait to be told about the women he loved: a ravishing Creole and a stunning English woman! I may, one day, write them from my own imagination. As a starter, how about, Shanghai love in the tropics? giving competition to Perhaps Love. Ah, who knows? Here is Grandpa at 27 years old, a year before he died! His story lies dormant. His grandson is ready!
Watch out Peter Chan!
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