Review of Yesterday Once More (2004) by Aladygma E — 10 Feb 2010
Third installment in Johnnie To's immensely successful, but artistically often questioned, Andy Lau/Sammi Cheng venture. Although routinely squeezed into a narrow romcom mould, each film is steeped in a separate mood.
Where Needing You was adorably cute, Love On A Diet had a coarse and almost imbecile tone. In Yesterday Once More To opts for cool sophistication, finding an excellent opportunity to display his love for classy-looking Hollywood movies, the superstar powered romances of the fifties, a fancy later developed more fully by To in Sparrow.
As a pair, Lau and Cheng possesses just the right amount of glamour for this project to take off, emitting rays of old-school charm and complaisance. The deliberately convoluted screenplay feels a bit overwritten, but the puzzle-like nature of the plot also proves very effective on an emotional level, with an, in genre terms, unpredictable and unorthodox ending.
A bitterly sweet sensation.
This review of Yesterday Once More (2004) was written by Aladygma E on 10 Feb 2010.
Yesterday Once More has generally received positive reviews.
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