Undying Heart

Year:2006

Andrew Lin and Flora Chan
Director:Gary Mak Wing-Lun
Cast:Flora Chan Wai-Shan, Andrew Lin Hoi, Natalie Ng Man-Yan, Carl Ng Ka-Lung, Lam Suet, Lau Cheu-Kei, Ken Wong Hap-Hei, Tony Ho Wah-Chiu, Law Lan, Eddie Peng Wai-On, Otto Wong Chi-On, Roderick Lam Chung-Kei
Description:
Undying Heart barely
had a theatrical release in Hong Kong, playing precious
few theaters before being shunted to DVD courtesy
of Kam & Ronson. All things considered, you may
not wish to know anything more about the film. Andrew
Lin stars as Wah, an average Hong Kong guy with an
unenviable yuppie lifestyle. Wah's live-in girlfriend
Karen pesters him to get married, plus
she also harangues him for smoking, not folding the
laundry, and watching TV with the volume on too loud.
They even have scheduled sex every Wednesday, though
one wonders why such a lousy home life hasn't made
him impotent yet. One also wonders why Karen hasn't
dumped Wah for being morose and uninteresting.
Wah perks up when his old
flame Nam reenters his life. Nam disappeared
from school under mysterious circumstances, and was
previously mute and a little frumpy. Now she's sexy
and has full command of her voice. Wah begins to spend
all his spare time with Nam such that he can realize
his long-gestating dream: to bake her a cake for her
birthday. However, there's suspicious activity afoot.
Nam sometimes coughs like she's mysteriously ill,
Nam's uncle Fat is spying on Wah and Karen,
and Nam even has her cousin Ken shadowing
Karen at work. With Wah off attending to Nam, Karen
starts to fall for Ken, and the movie looks like it's
going to become some sort of sappy K-Drama rip-off
special. But there's also the case of old college
pal Matt , who gets all jittery whenever
he sees Nam. What's his deal, and more importantly,
why has Nam returned after all these years?
Undying Heart
seems to be a mixture of genres, which would be fine
if it could deliver on any of them properly. Unfortunately,
it can't, leaving audiences with a limp relationship
drama spiced up with occasional forays into mystery,
revenge thriller, and supernatural romance. The key
behind Nam's return could prove unsettling, but the
drama is handled in an incredibly ill-conceived manner.
Basically, Nam suffered a terrible ordeal during her
college days, which should leave her burning for some
sort of revenge. However, instead of seeking revenge,
she treats everyone benevolently, like a walking billboard
for Christian values. Not that there's anything wrong
with that message, but considering what happened to
her, the filmmakers get it all wrong. Tough situations
should be treated with tough emotions, and Undying
Heart infuriatingly sidesteps that. What should
be the film's most pressing conflict practically becomes
a footnote.
With revenge a non-factor,
it's the soap opera lives of the various couples which
take up the most screentime - which is an unfortunate
turn of events because nothing that happens with the
couples is novel or interesting. Gary Mak's direction
is colorless, making the screenplay's faults all the
more noticeable. Characters behave in bewildering
ways, and some revelations are treated without the
impact they probably should be. This may not matter
anyway, as it's hard to imagine that anyone other
than hardcore fans of the actors would give Undying
Heart the time of day. At the very least, the
film delivers on the promise of Flora Chan's "sensual
performance" , which
in Hong Kong Cinema terms means an exposed back and
some heavy breathing during her love scene with Andrew
Lin - not stuff to get all hot-blooded about, really.
Still for hardcore Flora Chan fans, this may be big
news, and the DVD makers even reward the faithful
by compiling all the multiple takes into a DVD extra.
If you consider yourself one of those faithful, then
congratulations: Undying Heart is meant for
you. It's just not meant for the rest of us.