Review of Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996) by Alan W — 18 Sep 2014

Seeing this film 18 years after I first saw it in HK, with a sputtering print that is almost as old as the film itself, I can't help but feel a rush of nostalgia and so there may be some bias in this review.

But even so, anyone can see the flair director Peter Chan has (and his cinematic influences, like Godard, Scorsese, and Schlesinger that shaped his work); the sophisticated and very well crafted script by Ivy Ho that melded the political strand with the romantic strand so seamlessly - even though if one is to be critical, some of the plot contrivances are a tad melodramatic, if not borderline soapy; and of course the sublime performances by Leon Lai and Maggie Cheung, which almost 20 years later, still feel fresh and totally engaging.

If, like me, you lived through HK in the 80s-90s then this will bring back fond memories and the underlying issues that this film wanted to discuss will be ever more resonant and meaningful. Not that you will need this prior knowledge to enjoy this wonderfully romantic story of 2 star- and fate-crossed lovers.

Having said that, the subtitles are so lacking at certain point, the lost in translation factor would certainly mean that any Chinese speaking audience will definitely get a better deal out of the film than a non-Chinese speaking one.

And seeing that this is one of those films that is impossible to get on DVD (let alone Blu-ray), a good re-mastering/re-subtitling/reissue is definitely long overdue.