A Quickie

Before I go on with "It Happened This Christmas," I have something I'd like to say.

There is a time when one has to stop and ponder: what does it mean to love? How, in fact, do you know, really know when you are in love?

Well, sometimes you just do. And I love Chou Iin Dik Tong Wah, known in English as An Autumn's Tale.

PLOT DESCRIPTION
Mabel Chueng directs this wildly popular romantic comedy featuring Chow Yun-fat. With two years worth of savings and starry-eyed ambitions of being an actor, Jennifer Lee (Cherie Chung) leaves her comfortable home in Hong Kong for more modest digs in New York City, above the abode of her bumptious cousin, Figurehead (Chow). When her effete longtime boyfriend, Vincent (Danny Chan), dumps her and heads for Boston, Jennifer is left thunderstruck and deeply lonely. Figurehead goes all out to cheer up his pretty relative by buying her Broadway tickets and redecorating her apartment. Soon he finds himself falling for the lass though he is self-conscious about his humble upbringing, compulsive gambling, and coarse ways. Jennifer loves being around Figurehead but cannot imagine being married to him...
~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

I think Chow Yun Fat does a remarkable job here - in the bootleg I have, he's called "Boathead" but "Figurehead" makes a lot more sense. The NY times makes it sound like a love triangle, but that really doesn't come into play. It's more about Jennifer and Figurehead struggling to work with their own hopes and dreams, while trying to adjust to the way the world goes. It's sad, it's hopeful, at times it's funny, but on the whole, quite a fine film, I must say.

And it's not at all dirty. However, it is most definitely a good prelude to letting your hands wander...