Final Romance

Director: Alan Mak Siu-Fai

Producer: Benny Chan Muk-Sing

Cantonese Title: Ute Mong Shui

Literal Translation: Wishing Tree

Cast:
Edison Chen Koon-Hei - Dik
Amanda Strang - Jean Chow
Cindy Au Sin-Yi - Faye
Sam Lee Chan-Sam - Sena (Sin Ngai Lik)
Simon Yam Tat-Wah - Mr. Chow (Jean’s father)
Terence Yin - Mon-Yeung
Raymond Cho Wing-Lim - Dr. Peter Chan

Story Overview:

Jean (Amanda Strang) is making her way over to Japan with her best friend Faye (Cindy Au) to fulfill a wish of her dead sister’s, Michelle, -- to take her ashes to the Yusawa hotel in Japan and give it to her lover, Wu. Unfortunately, Wu has died as well which she later finds out from Wu’s brother, Dik (Edison Chen), who came to the Yusawa hotel with his best friend Sena (Sam Lee) to give Wu’s ashes to Jean’s sister.

Well with this predicament in hand, Jean and Dik have no idea what to do but they finally decide on something -- to bury Michelle’s and Wu’s ashes together, under the Wishing Tree where they first met, on Valentine’s Day. Jean, Faye, Dik and Sena all have to stay in the same room at the hotel, which opens up the many funny and romantic predicaments to come. And sure enough, Jean and Dik fall in love, much to the displeasure of her father (Simon Yam). When he hears of this, he immediately takes Jean away from Japan and back to Hong Kong -- and being the romantic he is, Dik goes back to Hong Kong too.

Long story short, Dik and Jean eventually fall in love, and make it through all the obstacles that were there -- like Jean’s father, Jean’s heart disease, her fiancé, etc. In the end, Jean’s father tries to kill Dik, just like how he killed his brother Wu but Mon Yeung (Terence Yin), Wu’s best friend and Dik and Sena’s “big brother” find out and gets Mr. Chow into a trap. Mon-Yeung then tries to kill Mr. Chow but Dik, as he is Romeo, saves him and gets injured himself. Dik and Jean then meet again, 6 months or so after Jean’s heart surgery, at Valentine’s Day, under the Wishing Tree.

And what happens to the others? Well Sena and Faye fall in love and travel all over the place now, due to Faye being a journalist. Mr. Chow dies while Jean was recovering from her operation from cancer, which lasted for one month. It was very painful and he had no one to take care of him but geez, he deserves it.

Review:

The summary sure did sound awkward enough but anyway, overall, I thought the movie was good. Probably because it was aimed at teenage romantics (which would be one way of describing me), although, I have to admit, it was pretty predictable and unoriginal -- the typical poor-boy falls in love with rich-girl with a disapproving daddy storyline. The plot was good, but I suppose Dik was way too unrealistic -- but then again, aren’t movies supposed to be unrealistic? Dik was way too good, in all honesty, I’ve never met anyone as good as him but Edison Chen did put up a good, convincing performance as this romantic rebel.

The person and character who I enjoyed watching most was definitely Sena, played by Sam Lee. Sena was funny and he and Cindy Au’s Faye sure did have enough chemistry, even though their “story“ was pretty small. Sam Lee’s pretty underrated; it’s time that he gets a leading role for himself. Amanda Strang as Jean was beautiful, though bland and weak. Her character wasn’t developed well enough in the story.

I liked the story well enough when it was set in Japan, with the beautiful scenery and the cute little story about the “Wishing Tree”. It was when Dik and Jean returned to Hong Kong that it lost its spark and things became just so monotonous and dull. Though again, overall, the movie was good, a teenage weepy if you want to be crude but to put it nicely, it’s a sweet, little, fluffy romantic movie, with a funny side relief thanks to Sam Lee and Cindy Au.

Characters:

Dik (Edison Chen) - A good, convincing performance form Edison as the romantic car mechanic with the dream of being a car racer -- and he’s pretty good at driving all right. I have a soft spot for Dik, as he portrays the “perfect” kind of guy to me -- cute, romantic, sweet and a car mechanic, although I never though Edison would be the kind of guy who’d play this role. Of course, Dik is also tough, having been beat up twice.

Jean (Amanda Strang) - Beautiful, bland and much too sentimental and quiet for her own good. In all honesty, the writers could have made Jean a stronger character than the weak, daddy’s little girl she was. Jean has heart disease, which causes her father to get paranoid about her and insist on looking after her and arranging everything for her, from what school to go to, to what man she marries. Slowly though, Jean starts to rebel -- very quietly though -- to her father although it’s so subtle and quiet you probably can’t see it. Amanda Strang did put up a good performance but the character of Jean as too.....boring.

Sena (Sam Lee) - My favourite character out of the whole movie. Not only was he funny, but he was cute and tough -- plus he was a car mechanic too! Like I’ve said before, I’ve always enjoyed Sam Lee’s performances and that he is underrated in the HK cinema. He’s probably never going get a lead role in his life, although he’s still good as a sidekick or whatever. Sena is Dik’s best friends, one of those loyal, witty, smart-mouth best friends who’d do anything for their buddies. He also steals things too but hey what can you do when you’re broke and starving? By the way, excellent chemistry with Cindy Au.

Faye (Cindy Au) - Like Sena, Faye is the side, amusement relief of the story and also like Sena, she’s loyal, witty and smart-mouthed, also the best friend of Jean. Cindy Au played Faye quite well but the only bad thing about her was that Cindy Au is well, not well-known to most people. Admittedly, I never heard of her before and after this movie. But again, she did a good job and she had great chemistry with Sam Lee. Hopefully we’ll be able to see more of Cindy Au in the future, because she’s a good, comedic actress.

Memorable/Favourite Scenes:

- When Jean saw Sena stealing stuff and he sees her watching him.

- When Dik and Sena try to help Faye and Jean when their car break down.

- When Faye, Sena and all the hotel people dance the Para Para Sakura dance.

- When the story of the “Wishing Tree” was told.

- When Dik and Jean were trapped in an avalanche.

- When it’s night time and Dik and Jean are passing an orange to each other and drawing smilie faces on it.

- When Dik’s taking Jean away from the engagement party and they’re driving madly away.

- When Jean and Dik are kissing on the rooftop and millions of things like snow are flying around them.