Yesterday Once More

Year:2004
Director:Johnnie To Kei-Fung
Cast:Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Sammi Cheng Sau-Man, Jenny Hu, Carl Ng Ka-Lung, Gordon Lam Ka-Tung, Hui Siu-Hung, Chun Wong, Lin Chun
Description:
It's money in the bank! Usually. The Johnnie To-Andy
Lau-Sammi Cheng triumvirate behind Needing You
and Love on a Diet return for a third and final
collaboration, Yesterday Once More, a sophisticated
romance that departs from the trio's earlier work
in more than a few ways. Instead of regular joes,
the two stars play divorced ex-thieves whose professional
rivalry is only matched by their lingering desire
for one another. These new characters are also more
sophisticated and sexy, and spend their time sparring
archly instead of actually falling in love. If it
doesn't sound like it already, then here it is: Yesterday
Once More suffers when compared to either Needing
You or Love on a Diet, a result that's
not unexpected. Given the beloved status of their
previous films, it's unrealistic to assume that a
new To-Lau-Cheng team-up would equal automatic cinema
gold. But the hope was there, wasn't it?
Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng
play divorced couple Mr. and Mrs. To, two exceptionally
rich and exceptionally attractive Hong Kong citizens
who just so happen to be professional thieves. The
two split up after a routine diamond heist, supposedly
over an inability to divide the loot properly. Two
years later, Mrs. To has a new suitor: Steve , a richer-than-rich momma's boy who opens up momma's
loaded vaults to snag Mrs. To's hand in marriage.
Steve gets his mother to hand over an immensely valuable
ruby necklace after your standard diamond ring isn't
enough to sway Mrs. To's heart, or the insatiable
greed that passes for Mrs. To's heart.
Mom agrees, but not without justifiable suspicion.
Mrs. To is as obviously materialistic as she is elegantly
beautiful, and she wastes no time plotting to snag
the necklace梟aturally without the added burden
of marrying Steve. Within minutes of obtaining the
necklace from a bank vault, Steve is assaulted by
two teams of hired goons and a trained pooch, the
result being a comic chase sequence and one stolen
necklace.
But despite her best laid
plans, Mrs. To doesn't end up with the necklace. Someone
else snakes it from her, and the obvious culprit is
her ex-husband. However, even though it's obvious
that Mr. To made off with the goods, his actual motive
is still in question. Is he just trying to cheese
off his ex-wife? Or does he covet the necklace too?
Or梚n accordance with the usual Sammi Cheng-Andy
Lau audience desire梚s he doing it because he
still loves his ex-wife, and wants to stop her wedding?
To find out, Mrs. To gives immediate chase after the
charmingly casual Mr. To, who doesn't deny the theft,
but doesn't make any effort to come clean either.
Instead, the two start to pal around, trading verbal
barbs and professional swipes, all the while recalling
their glorious salad days. Will love blossom between
the two ex-lovers once more?
The quick answer: no.
Yesterday Once More is not a film about two
people falling in love for the first or even the second
time; It's about two people who've always been in
love, but have simply let circumstances get in the
way, be they greed, pride, or maybe something else.
That something else is the big question at the heart
of Yesterday Once More. The filmmakers pony
up an answer, but it's a manufactured plot detail
that smells more like a screenwriting shortcut than
earned drama. That's because the ninety minutes preceding
the big "what's it all about" revelation
is blithe, frothy stuff that's told in Johnnie To's
patented obtuse storytelling style. As the characters
go about their little cat-and-mouse game, it's the
slight actions and minute detail that are supposed
to entertain, and not any overt musings on life, love,
and larceny. The sparring between Mr. and Mrs. To
is supposed to be witty and amusing for its misdirection,
oblique reference, and dazzling star exchanges, and
the combination partially works. This is a movie,
and seeing movie stars smile at one another does carry
some weight.
Yet because it's all
so light and frothy, Yesterday Once More screeches
to an ultimate halt when it cannot do what it seemingly
should: satisfy its audience. Sammi Cheng and Andy
Lau are the closest thing current Hong Kong Cinema
has to screen royalty, and putting them in a film
creates automatic expectations. Yesterday Once
More satisfies some of those expectations by giving
them suave characters in the Cary Grant/Grace Kelly
mold. Both Mr. To and Mrs. To are To Catch a Thief-types
that ooze charm, grace, and above-it-all worldliness,
and Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng mine their practiced
chemistry and dazzling charisma to create iconic movie-type
characters. It's all very charming and subtly cool,
like Ocean's Eleven reduced to To's Two梠nly
without an actual caper to anchor the thing. Not having
a big blow-out event is fine if some sort of conflict
would appear to turn this into a grand Hollywood-style
romance. But it doesn't. The big payoff is quiet and
coyly affecting, and also something of an emotional
downer. On paper there's a certain poetry to what
happens in Yesterday Once More, but when it
all comes down, it doesn't feel very satisfying.
But should this movie
be satisfying? That's a bigger question that probably
can't be answered by any one film reviewer, especially
not one who thought Needing You was great,
great stuff. Fans of Johnnie To's obtuse, ironic,
and cinematic style might still find great satisfaction
in the playful cat-and-mouse storytelling, which uses
deadpan repetition and droll characterization to elicit
giggles. Celebrity watchers have Andy Lau and Sammi
Cheng to occupy their senses, and even if they aren't
entirely satisfied by the outcome of the film, they
still got their two-hour fill of the stars. But those
looking for a simple good time at the movies may not
be too pleased. Maybe Needing You redux isn't
necessary to satisfy the masses, but creating a film
that tantalizes and ultimately confounds the target
audience doesn't seem like the best alternative, either.
There's something sly and subversively clever about
the love story Johnnie To choses to tell, but the
big payoff of Yesterday Once More seems more
like an elaborate practical joke than an ardent act
of affection. This looks like Johnnie To's official
deconstruction of the sophisticated romance genre,
which would be business as usual for Hong Kong's top
commercial auteur. Even in his most fluffy films,
To has attempted some sort of genre subversion, and
the results have usually been more successful than
not. Unfortunately, in aiming for such arch cleverness,
Yesterday Once More leans towards not.