My Heart Will Go On (1999)Leo (Wu) wants to quit his job as an assassin. The task of wiping out people with Delta 4 gas just isn't his thing. A Mr Ishii, owner of said gas, is not impressed - "Once an assassin, always an assassin" he sneers and orders him dead. Meanwhile, cop Michael (Ng) is hitting it off well with his girlfriend Maggie (Choi). It's all so happy - Maggie even has some perky, synthy theme music whenever she graces the screen. As they pose for some wholesome pre-wedding photos, Michael is called away for a case. It's an attempt to kill Leo, but it's Michael who ends up dying. Leo takes a mighty fall and after a heart transplant from the dead cop, he's back on his feet. Michael's heart goes on. Now beating away happily in Leo, the fresh heart brings with it some old memories. The quiet assassin first comes up with Michael's secret computer password and soon recognises Maggie in the street. She's getting over the death (she must be - that perky theme music returns) and soon Leo's buying flowers from her shop, sharing a drink and quipping Michael's old set phrases. How so much memory is contained in a heart is beyond me but such reasoning has absolutely no place in My Heart Will Go On. By the time Maggie finds out where her man's heart went to and what Leo does for a living, Mr Ishii's goons hit the scene again with guns aplenty... Now, I know I have this tendency to like just about any local movie that comes out these days so here I go with yet more praises. What a good little film! The budget is clearly shoestring, meaning the Cantonese dubbing is awful, the editing is bland and the picture is largely in bluish greenish murk. And even presented like this, the enjoyable story unfurls with competent melodrama and bouts of well-shot action. Though the plot stands out on its shameless cheese alone, powerhouse Ada Choi acting and fluffy romance thrown on top makes My Heart Will Go On so much better than that title suggests. DVD information: Another basic release from Wide Sight. All you get is the feature film and it looks overly crisp and dark. The disc bears the original non-removable cinema print subtitles. The language choices are Cantonese and Putongua. For some reason, there is no trailer. Having seen the trailer in the cinema I can't say it's spellbinding – a mishmash of silent film footage with electronica thumping over the top - but its inclusion here would have seen it preserved for home viewers. There are six chapters accessed from a menu. Due to the bluish nature of the film itself, highlighting the chapters with a similarly blue transparent layer proved frustrating on my eyes. An additional feature is a text introduction in Chinese only. Note: This recent release movie review is based entirely on watching the DVD described here. Because I didn't see the film in the cinema, I have no way of comparing the actual theatre presentation to how it has turned out on disc. |
Credits: Directed by Amy Choi |
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