Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 01/07/2006 The opening of Timeless Romance makes no secret of the influence from Chungking Express - the dialogue, costumes and cinematography all seem to scream "I wanna be Wong Kar Wai!" Sadly, David Lai is not Wong Kar-Wai... but marks for effort. Possibly realising he as over-extended himself, Lai somehow conspires to turn the film into a period mo-lei-tau comedy instead! As unlikely as this transition sounds, it is a success. Some of the oddest scripting moments in HK's history elevate the insanity of the film to sublime levels. The film is a lot of fun, showing the kind of carefree inventive flair that marks the best of HK cinema. The film makes virtually no sense, but in a nearly profound way :) It's possible it might make more sense with a decent subtitle translation I suppose - the Mei Ah disc manages to get the line "You blue eyed chich, red moustache mobs!" out of somewhere - presumably an alternate reality where any random combination of English words is a viable translation :p Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: STSH Date: 12/25/1999 Summary: Nowhere else but in HK ! Truly, there is NOWHERE else but HK that a film like this could or would be made. The pace is wild and wacky, the action varies between really daft and mind-numbingly spinout. The quality of the subtitle translation is extraordinarily bad, which proves that time does not improve. There's quite a bit of joking about death (the lead characters keep reincarnating and scaring people). Oddly for a Cat IIb film, there is a little full-frontal nudity, though it's discreet. This happens when Lo (Tony Leung) sees his wish to see a prospective girlfriend naked at their first meeting come true. Unfortunately for him, it's when they are both on the critical list and about to die the meet as floating souls). Overall, the frenetic direction-changing is sometimes less than well-done. But see it anyway. It's definitely a buzz. Reviewer Score: 7