Best known for atmospheric action thrillers like Election (2005) and Vengeance (2009), prolific director Johnnie To occasionally dabbles in the sweeter side of modern life (Needing You, 2000; Yesterday Once More, 2004; Linger, 2008). Despite being honoured with the opening slot at the recent Hong Kong Film Festival, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart makes it plainly evident that syrupy sentiment is not his strong suit.
The Hong Kong-set drama follows the convoluted path to true love for three well-off Chinese yuppies. Set in the final days before the GFC in 2008, a first-act prologue introduces two potential suitors: wealthy financier-playboy Cheung Shen Ran (Louis Koo) and drunken has-been architect Fang Qihong (Daniel Wu). Both men have eyes for the adorably flighty market-analyst Zixin (Gao Yuanyuan). Neither gets her to commit first time around, despite an interminable amount of cutesy/flirty/sexy interactions. Cheung favours a shallow European (a spirited Larisa Bakurova); Fang adopts Zixin’s frog (whose croaking shows a fine sense of comic timing) and starts designing again.
Three years on, Fang has sobered up and re-established his career and Cheung has survived the financial industry collapse, all-too conveniently emerging as CEO of the very company Zixin works for. This plot-development sets in motion an extended sequence of muddled, awkward dramatics and logistical anomalies that suck the whimsy out of the film.
The actors try hard but To’s modus operandi is to serve the scene, not the character. For example, after Cheung scales bamboo scaffolding to access Zixin’s apartment, he arranges candles and dozens of post-it notes (a recurring romantic theme) into heart shapes in a matter of seconds; it’s a ludicrous set-up and a stupid leap of logic, however, it adheres to To’s vision of romantic destiny. His tendency to stylise standard genre beats is better suited to the gangster milieu than romantic drama.
Though To’s twee, naff romantic machinations sag, there is no denying that, in collaboration with his director of photography Cheng Siu Keung, he has crafted a sumptuous film. Their framing of the street-level ambience and vast skyscape of Hong Kong’s business district is reminiscent of Gordon Willis (Annie Hall, 1977; Manhattan, 1979) and Christopher Doyle (In the Mood for Love, 2000; 2046, 2004) – two cinematographers able to capture the personality of a modern metropolis. Had Cheng Siu Keung’s camera been more ably supported by the committee of writers (Wai Ka-fai, Yau Nai-hoi, Rayker Chan, Jevons Au), Don’t Go Breaking My Heart might have leapt off the screen. Instead, the film exudes a comfortable charm at best and allows for a creeping disinterest at worst. Most of all, it ideally serves the vibrant harbour port’s bid for tourist dollars.
