Movie Review: Love Cuts 割爱

Date: 3 September 2010
Time: 9:15
Location: GV Grand
Kaki: Skycloud
Rating: 3 stars
Language: Chinese (with some Cantonese)

Synopsis:
Forty-something Cecilia (Zoe Tay), better known as Sissy to her friends, is a cheery and vivacious seamstress. Diligent and keenly devoted to her art, Sissy has earned a respectable reputation in the trade for her superb craftsmanship and exquisite style. Her second-storey tailor shop Sissy's Seamstress at the Textile Centre is modest yet distinctly in a class of its own.

Sissy is recognized as an exceptionally talented seamstress, not only in her community but also garnering clients from far and wide. Moreover, Sissy's candid, affable and attentive disposition also makes her extremely well-liked and popular.Wai Mun (Kenny Ho), her husband of many years, is the captain of an acclaimed Chinese restaurant. Although somewhat discontented with life since his migration from Hong Kong to Singapore, he and Sissy are a loving couple and enjoy a blissful marriage. They have a 15-year-old son (Edwin Goh) and a nine-year-old daughter (Regene Lim) who has a very close relationship with Sissy and is a source of great cheer and comfort to her.

In a twist of fate, an unexpected occurrence befalls their seemingly mediocre and uneventful lives. One day, as Sissy feels a hard lump in her left breast. A gush of complex emotions overwhelms her...

Review:
Well, truth be told, I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of melodramas and if it wasn't because Skycloud asked me to go with her, I would probably have given the movie a miss. But I do owe her one for asking her to watch the expendables with me... sooo... I watched the movie.

It was pretty good, surprisingly. It was not great and probably would not win any awards, but it was a nice break away from the staple Jack Neo movies (and yes, I am boycotting whatever movies he will make henceforth, cuz I cannot tolerate the thought of adding to his coffers when he's such a bastard)...

The pacing was a little slow at the start and since the theme was on breast cancer, if you are not aware of it, you might as well just bang your head against the wall, since the message is glaringly obvious.... but the movie picked up and the family unit they formed was quite believable. Usual petulant teen, overworked husband, sacrificing mom (I think nobody can truly depict how great a mommy's love can be) and cute girl (just wait till puberty hits her I tell ya!)

It was a nice heartwarming local film, where even though the message of breast cancer was extremely strong, the acting by the cast (adding in of that hongkong actor was a great idea, since it did add a nice twist and a different touch to the movie) was not bad. Filming wasn't jarring or abrupt, and frankly for $7/$10 bucks, you could do a lot worse, just read my review on airbender. And at the end of the day, a rather good local production is definitely worth supporting and the movie while not as classy as 881, is definitely heads and shoulders above that old cow tender grass movie (disclaimer, did not watch it, just basing my opinion on adverts)

There were some cuckoo moments of course, like that model lady whose voice was dubbed rather terribly into this China sounding woman... *shudders*... and of course, the rather redundant scene of Allan Wu and this model posing nude was also one of my... "Hmm... actually, it wasn't critical to the storyline, I wonder what's the value add"

So... on a weekday afternoon or night, go watch it with your family lah.. it's not that bad... :) And.. a little bit of a tear jerker. Disclaimer again, a little for me, and a lot for Skycloud... sniffling for almost an hour! HAHAHAHAHA... :)