Comrades, Almost a Love Story
Comrades, Almost a Love Story
| 05 December 1996 (USA)
Comrades, Almost a Love Story Trailers

Jun arrives in Hong Kong from mainland China, hoping to be able to earn enough money to marry his girlfriend back home. He meets the streetwise Qiao and they become friends. As friendship turns into love, problems develop, and although they seem meant for each other they somehow keep missing out.

Reviews
n19900709

There are a lot of things to write about the film. It's a representative opus that builds great meaning from details. Is it real love between Li Xiaojun and Li Qiao? Would they been so engraved in the heart like this if there were not so many coincidences? If those two conditions establish both, is that to say, love can not be sublimed of stay in the story?In the movie, before everything begins, Li xiaojun and Li Qiao go to Hong Kong back-to-back in the same train by accident. There is a wording "Only sweethearts in love consider that everything happens by accident was destined before"(《Twelve Night》, 2000), of another similar sentence "There's no coincidence in the world but only the illusion of coincidence, there exist something in the back of coincidence"(《V for Vendetta》,2005). It's just like Qingxia simply choose her lover: anyone can extract my sword, I'll treat him without reservation.Love may often begin with some simple coincidences. It's just coincidences make us full of motive power, it's the biggest pill to stabilize their mind to the person who do not have much sense of direction or security. But in reality, there are not so many coincidences in life. We always expect for coincidence, live a calm life superficially, but we are still peep coincidence occurs. We all have the wish that something would happen in the future. For coincidence, we can surfer so many boring days, we are waiting for miracle arrives and that's the time we can free ourselves. If not, we can also keep the right to image.In those waiting days, time goes by, Li Xiaojun gets married, and Li Qiao is successful in her career. There leaves them two after they sent Xiaoting to work. So many days passed, and it just like they never lost it. Li Xiaojun has so many words want to tell her, so many topic can talk about, but traffic light passed one by one, there is still not even one word in the car.Li Xiaojun sees Deng Lijun in the moment, she was his spiritual ballast once upon a time. That can be a summary for his young years. Does it perfect? Does he satisfies even if he got the autograph? Those all because you keep them in your memory, I loved you, you abandoned me, we can not go back to the way we used to be even if time machine gives me the feelings of that moment. They cannot help but say goodbye. Finally, coincidence arrives.Heavy body run into steering wheel, harsh klaxon tweets. Though there are weighty responsibility, so many life goals that can not release, those burdens that push down them and leave them no room are penetrated by the klaxon. Music stops, Xiaojun goes back to her without hesitate and they kiss. That's my favorite moment of this movie. Then the story can stop, the coincidence would be as a full stop for those suffering.But in fact, they are separated even there is not 24 hours since they got back to each other. And this separation is more despair than any separations they had before. The movie approaches to reality till now. Coincidence is just presentation. People always attach it, that is exactly their own wishful thinking. As reality events, coincidences are what you eat today, what you dreamed last night, just like you read the passage I write. Coincidence is one part of life, it has no particularity. Sperm and ovum meet, then you born; screened by society time and time again, there you are. Those are all coincidences, everything you experience and you not experience are all coincidences. Only you can not realize that reality would never respect the things you image all the time.I always believe that the essence of people is tender. We all move forward and wonder what would happen next second. The more you desire for success, the more you love someone, the afraid in your heart would be more powerful. Once you got desire and then you would afraid to lose it. In this way, one could never grasp the sense of security in fact. And then coincidence turns to as our best spiritual ballast. Of course it's just a film, they get back to each other again, the ending is so beautiful. The moment they move their sight and then meet, they are both caim in heart. That's because of the screening by time, it's quiet after great rejoicing and great grief, it's deposition after so many days. There eyes tell me that they would live a calm life till old even if there is no coincidence.

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Timothy Cheng

This film is essentially about a guy that falls in love with a girl in a foreign place, somehow marries a former lover and in the end loses it all (well almost all). The first half of the film is mainly about the relationship development between the two "comrades". Since I am not a fan of either actor to me it seems to drag on for quite some time on specific details (one about a very popular singer) which would prove to be significant later on. Chinese in their thirties should relate to some of the historical events. All the sentimental stuff happens in the second half, some perhaps on the least likely of characters. As usual Maggie Cheung is brilliant with her subtle brand of acting. In my point of view, the circumstances where the two surviving characters meet again sporadically after splitting up seem somewhat far-fetched but so sweet you should give them a break. In general it manages to avoid pointless sentiment, innocous humor and yet comes up with a bittersweet ending that is dramatic yet humble. I like "The Umbrella Story" from last year more because it is much gushier and there is more going on (more characters to relate to) but I could understand if an older audience said this movie had better taste.

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Mike-69

The film deals with an every-day subject that lots of films have dealt with so far: boy meets girl. So many people might tend to say "It's always the same with that kind of stories", but in this case they are wrong. This film is simply lovely. Everything is there. The rough meeting, the soft touch, the first realization, the despair in the rain, the slight hope, the fate's sign and finally the supernatural power of emotions. All this with Hongkong and New York - two of the most exciting cities in the world - as background and casted with the outstanding actress Maggie Cheung who I'd love to see more often in the cinema.There might be bigger love stories, but for those two hours you watch this film the most beautiful love story comes from Hongkong.

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DevilFis

This movie is a classic. Maggie Cheung, in what I consider her best work, is simply brilliant as the young Chinese woman who emigrates to Hong Kong in search of a better life. While it is a classic love story, Peter Chan has done a fantastic job of making it extremely fresh and captivating. The script is very well-written, and the rest of the cast and crew perform admirably. But it is Maggie who steals the show, and for this role she deservedly won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

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