Review of Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996) by Melissa M — 16 Apr 2010

Beautifully poignant but appropriately restrained. This is obviously a commercial picture, but I see something from Peter Chan that I havenâ??t seen more recently â?? heart. It doesnâ??t play out as a love story, but a character portrait (with the backdrop of a changing city) - and for that Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai get full credit for imbuing their characters with sympathetic realism - of two people trying valiantly not to fall in love. That said, when one puts an actress with the quality of Maggie Cheung next to Leon Lai instead of Tony Leung, you see how good she really is. There nothing particularly â??specialâ?? about her facial expressions, body language or voice tone, but she captures your attention from start to finish. Now thatâ??s what I call acting.

PS: I think I see Christopher Doyle.