Fruit's Rating and Review: 

Director: Aubrey Lam Oi Wa
Cast: Cecilia Cheung Pak Chi, Eason Chan Yik Shun, Candy Lo Hau-Yam, Nicola Cheung Sam-Yuet, Nicolas Tse Ting Fung

     To choose 12 nights to stand for 12 stages of a relationship, coooooool, the idea’s really fascinating.

     Before getting on a new partner all you have to do is to end the last relationship, and that is what the first night is about. Actually you can tell what is going to happen on the next 11 nights right after watching the first night. The leads Jeanie and Alan (Cecilia and Eason) come together after breaking up with their previous lovers, and the pair fails to maintain a balanced relationship. Everything just flies past.

     Please don’t expect there is anything deep depicted by this story. Yet, there are some incisive mottos at the beginning of each ‘nights’. Most people will think that they are merely extracted from some vulgar love novels. That is exactly right, for the film is just a movie version of such novels.

     Notwithstanding all these, I will still recommend this movie to young people and those who have a great nostalgia for their young years. It’s different from "Tempting Heart" (1999), the background of which lies mainly in the 70s. "Twelve Nights" takes place in the nineties, where people easily fall in love and easily get tired. Are there still people longing for great love? The director seems to tell us that great love stories no longer exist in this city. The unnamed character played by Nicholas Tse Ting Fung gives me a great impression both in the beginning and near the end. The movie begins with him waiting a phone call from his ex-girlfriend, which never comes; and it ends up with him again. He runs into Jeanie on the street and the two chat happily. See? Another pair just hooks up. What a cycle.

    All the scenes of lovers breaking up take place in 7-11, and that means a lot to Hong Kong people. And, can you expect any great love story to start from a 7-11?

© Fruit 2001
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