Heroes in Love (2001)

Four shorts make up Heroes in Love; three by first-time directors and a fourth using images from the previous three pieces. Bearing a Chinese title translating as "Revolution of Love", the production's an impressive showcase of work from well-known names in the Hong Kong entertainment circuit. With the individual films beefed up by unified production standards, Heroes in Love's concept could bode well should the producers choose to extend it to other indie filmmakers in future.

The love affairs kick off with Kidnap by Wing Shya, best known as photographer and video director to the likes of Wong Kar-wai and Gigi Leung. The moody piece sees a tomboy take a girl hostage in a cramped apartment; an event from which a relationship builds. An overly dark finish, sporadic electronic score and a mix of visual presentations keep the production atmospheric and on edge. But once it leads into a closing Nicolas Tse song, Kidnap feels more like an extended music video than as a particularly memorable narrative.

Directors Stephen Fung and Nicolas Tse quickly pick up the pace with their slick My Beloved, casting remarkable newcomer Por Wu in an odd tale of love between man and metal. Wu is young Robin Hood, a curious loner whose favourite handgun is dead and buried. When Robin spots a new love in a shop window, a machine gun dubbed The Ejaculator, he quits his job with a final payoff and buys the mock-up weapon. Sleeping with his new trophy partner, the gun proves not easily satisfied and prompts him to hit the town for a bit of action.

Lead actor Wu works ably with the directors' given theme. Playing a nervous, scruffy and stooped loner, he offers a most intriguing presence and is a distinctive highlight for Heroes in Love as a whole. Filmmaking is confident and enjoyable, with visual technique running from time changes on outdoor scenes through to nicely lit and atmospheric interiors, and the inclusion of amusing video reportage. The soundtrack ranges from crisp electronics through to a licensed Radiohead tune, though Wu's appeal was such that I would have preferred more silence to better focus on his character's screen time. Interesting asides come in media coverage of our hero -- one journalist is so news hungry she interviews Robin's jilted budgie!

Frivolities soon peak with radio host GC Goo-Bi's Oh G! -- a blast of fresh air after darker numbers preceding. Lead teens Charlene and Lawrence hook up online and take the big step to real-world dating. Early conversation hinges on each other's Internet identities but soon the love sparks fly and they're smitten in a capsule romance of teen love adventures.

The online chat program ICQ acts as the protagonists' nifty matchmaker -- a love revolution in its own right -- but director GC Goo-Bi steadily reveals more ambitious storytelling here. The approach is clever and often lightweight (the film even pauses for a song, much to the audience's amusement) and the tale is a pleasure to sit through. Charlene Choi and Lawrence Chou are likeable on screen and infuse Oh G! with enthusiasm and an upbeat charm, with a bright and colourful palette on screen to match. Given the radio host director's previous work on Lawrence Wong's Cross Harbour Tunnel, this latest piece suggests her as a name to keep an eye out for.

Oh G! would have been a most agreeable closer for Heroes in Love, were it not for a fourth piece: the Jan Lamb-directed TBC. This final segment is brief, applying a voiced-over relationship tale set to scenes taken from the preceding films. The story of a man finding himself alone after a partnership is presented with footage that best corresponds to the narrative, screened largely without colour and applying a Nicholas Tse-sung tune through the auditorium's rear speakers. The concept is nifty and applied well, but ultimately proved a distraction to my ongoing thoughts on GC Goo-Bi's fine flick immediately before it.

Individual credits:

Kidnap
Directed by Wing Shya
Starring Chang Sze-hin, Elegant Tong Wing-sze and Gloria Cheng
Art director Man Lim-chung

My Beloved
Directed by Stephen Fung and Nicolas Tse
Story by Stephen Fung
Screenplay by Stephen Fung, Nicolas Tse and Patrick Lung
Art director: Chan Sai-hung
Starring Por Wu

Oh G!
Directed by GC Goo-Bi (Vincci Cheuk)
Screenplay by GC Goo-Bi
Art director: Chan Sai-hung
Starring Charlene Choi and Lawrence Chou

TBC
Directed by Jan Lamb