Tiramisu

cover

Year of release: 2002

Genre: ghost/romance

Director: Dante Lam

Producers: Dante Lam, Daniel Lam

Writers: Chan Man-Yau, Ross Lee

Cinematography: Chan Chi-Ying

Editing: Chan Kei-Hop

Music: Tommy Wai

Stars: Nicholas Tse, Karena Lam, Eason Chan, Candy Lo, Chan Git-Leng, Vincent Kok, Kitty Yuen, Lawrence Chou

Rated IIB for language and mild violence

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One of the most unique aspects of Hong Kong films is the way they often blend genres that you might not normally associate meshing together. Tiramisu is a prime example of this. You're not likely to see a ghostly romance story featuring tap dancing numbers coming from many other regions of the world. However, just because something is unique, that doesn't necessarily mean it's good. Which is a shame, really, because the young stars here, Nicholas Tse and Karena Lam, have some nice genuine chemistry together, and one gets the feeling we might have had a decent romantic movie if there wasn't so much other silly fluff involved.

Basically, Nic plays Fung, a deaf messenger, and Karena plays Jing, a dancer. They meet cute several times during a day and seem destined to start a whirlwind romance. That is, until Fung finds out Jing is a ghost. Jing doesn't want to cross to the other side until her dance troupe wins a big new contract, and so she begins to avoid a group of "underworld cops" (who look like something off of a Molly Hatchet album cover circa 1976) and enlists Fung's aid by possessing his body so that he becomes the lord of the dance.

At least that is what I could gather. Tiramisu is very silly in parts, and not in a good way. Actually, the intended comedic relief (through Eason Chan, who plays Fung's best friend, Buddy) is pretty awful, full of the incessant mugging, yelling, and toilet humor most westerners tend to hate about a lot of Hong Kong film attempts at hilarity. The whole underworld cop thing never made any sort of sense. We have a group of GWAR rejects riding horses and shooting magic arrows at innocent people, yet no one seems to question this or call the cops? And Fung's lack of hearing is a plot device that seems to come and go, only being noticeable when the story needs yet another gimmick to use as a cinematic crutch.

Also, for a movie that places so much emphasis on them, the dance numbers came off as strange, awkward, and out of place. I'm sure fans of the Cantopop side of Nic Tse's career will get a lot more enjoyment out of them, but, personally, I abhor music/dance scenes for the most part, and the stuff presented here did nothing to change that opinion. I get that as a whole Tiramisu just may have not been my kind of movie, but it all feels so slap-dashedly put together that I don't even think the film-makers knew who their intended audience was. This release is really only for diehard fans of the stars only, and even then, they may have to keep their fingers near the fast-forward button.

RATING: 4