A Moment of Romance

A Moment of Romance exemplifies an entire movement of late-80s Hong Kong crime films which thrive far more on style and huge emotions than plot or character (which are all but an afterthought). There's a moment here when our protagonist, bloodied and beaten, tosses a trash can through the window of a wedding clothes store, and the next shot is him and his would-be lover riding his motorcycle into the night, his blood dripping onto her white lace glove. Pure fucking cinema.

far removed from the precision and elegance of to's later romances, this is messy, uninhibited filmmaking forged in blood and swirling emotion, even by the standards of the similar AS TEARS GO BY. there's no content in the script, it's all in the passionate movements and emphases of the camera, the alternately violent and steamy editing, the framing and choreography of these actors in a hong kong of moody reds and blurred neon. it's dumb as a doornail, but i live for this shit.

This film has been on my watchlist for quite some time, and to be honest, I had some expectations. Even though there are few "moment of romances" I liked a lot, most of them were "too" overdramatic even though the film did not shy away from being overdramatic. It has a look and style, but maybe I am not in the mood for a violence/first sight love/motobike triangle.

Viewed June 2, 2021. A Hong Kong lovers on the run film, teenage angst filtered through plenty of slow motion and neon. Hard not to love.