Lost In Time (2003)Director Derek Yee turns the cameras to everyday Hongkongers coming to terms with the past and moving forward in Lost In Time, his return to the screens after several years away. Action centres on Holly Lam (Cecilia Cheung), whose minibus driver fiance Man Liang dies in a crash on the job. Compelled to support Man's orphaned son Laurie (Harashima Daichi) and carry on the trade her man had invested so much in, Holly repairs the crashed bus and starts working the Hong Kong Island east-west route, much to the disapproval of her family. Breaking into the minibus driver routine is not without other hardship, and it takes the support of good Samaritan colleague Hale (Lau Ching-wan) for Holly to learn the ropes, to deal with triad interference and, eventually, to pay the bills at home. As Hale becomes a guardian angel figure, and like a father to the boy, Holly must face letting go before she can reach a new beginning. With a plot focused on a young woman coping with a death, getting stuck in the past and finding companionship in a helpful stranger, Lost In Time treads ground similar to what The Floating Landscape did in cinemas a month earlier. Lost In Time likewise opts for an unhurried narrative but tells its story among hard-working characters on the home turf. Drama gets too heavy-handed for its own good at times, but James Yuen and Fong Ching's script reserves adequate space to calmly cover protagonist Holly's personal difficulties, a one-way dialogue she develops through Man's answering service and the time spent with the boy and her newfound partner. Beyond its losses and new starts, Lost In Time slips in more entertaining aspects with minibus-related detail. Holly's choice to be a [possibly unlicensed] minibus driver presents colourful coverage of her difficulty entering the red-top minibuses' non-franchised routes, worked by drivers dog-eat-dog style under sometimes shady authority. A scene-stealing moment early in the film sees Hale teach the new driver how to manage her route for greatest returns or, as fellow Hong Kong road users may believe, how to hurtle through busy streets like a maniac. Cecilia Cheung ably handles a diverse role to deliver much of the movie's dramatic moments, for which the script affords maximum tears. The Hale character is more carefully fleshed out beyond being just a support figure, and Lau Ching-wan gives a natural performance as his character blends into Holly's life with minimal theatrics. Louis Koo is billed as a special guest but offers a good presence in flashbacks and child actor Harashima Daichi meanwhile scores full marks for cuteness as Laurie, prompting many otherwise silent local audience members to coo "So cute!" at his every expression. |
Credits: Directed by Derek Yee Tung-sing |
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