Saw the movie last night at the Malaysian premiere with Peter and Takeshi present at the before-buffet and screening.
Personally, I did not enjoy the movie. Don't get me wrong, I love musicals, and I thoroughly enjoyed Moulin Rouge. There were a lot of things in Perhaps Love that tried to be like Moulin Rouge but just didn't quite get there. For example, the opening sequence with fast choppy editing and fast-paced choreography. The only problem here is that at least Moulin Rouge gave a clear premise of what the movie was going to be about as oppose to in Perhaps Love, which throws you into a song with no clue at all.
The one thing that fell flat was that even though the storyline about the love triangle was simple, the way it was revealed was confusing and there were a lot of scenes that just seemed like a waste of time and wasn't moving the movie along.
Perhaps it needs to be explained to me, but generally, movies don't need to be explained and should reveal itself. The formula of a good musical is that it is pretty straightforward and what makes a musical work are strong songs that explain the storyline. The music in Perhaps Love was weak in the sense that it all sounded like Mando-pop ballads and didn't move the story along at all. At some points in the movie, I was thinking whether it can even be justified as a movie musical due to the fact that the only musical numbers were songs from the movie being made within the movie. From memory, there were only about 5 songs through the 2 hours! I usually enjoy choreographed pieces and musical numbers but when it came to the musical scenes in Perhaps Love, I started feeling uncomfortable due to the fact that the extras looked a tad unprofessional and the whole thing was cheesy as oppose to it being a serious, dramatical love story.
Visually, though, the shots were well done and sets/costumes and even the acting was strong so I'll give it a few stars there but other than that, it just got tedious and I pretty much was waiting for the ending to arrive.
Personally, I did not enjoy the movie. Don't get me wrong, I love musicals, and I thoroughly enjoyed Moulin Rouge. There were a lot of things in Perhaps Love that tried to be like Moulin Rouge but just didn't quite get there. For example, the opening sequence with fast choppy editing and fast-paced choreography. The only problem here is that at least Moulin Rouge gave a clear premise of what the movie was going to be about as oppose to in Perhaps Love, which throws you into a song with no clue at all.
The one thing that fell flat was that even though the storyline about the love triangle was simple, the way it was revealed was confusing and there were a lot of scenes that just seemed like a waste of time and wasn't moving the movie along.
Perhaps it needs to be explained to me, but generally, movies don't need to be explained and should reveal itself. The formula of a good musical is that it is pretty straightforward and what makes a musical work are strong songs that explain the storyline. The music in Perhaps Love was weak in the sense that it all sounded like Mando-pop ballads and didn't move the story along at all. At some points in the movie, I was thinking whether it can even be justified as a movie musical due to the fact that the only musical numbers were songs from the movie being made within the movie. From memory, there were only about 5 songs through the 2 hours! I usually enjoy choreographed pieces and musical numbers but when it came to the musical scenes in Perhaps Love, I started feeling uncomfortable due to the fact that the extras looked a tad unprofessional and the whole thing was cheesy as oppose to it being a serious, dramatical love story.
Visually, though, the shots were well done and sets/costumes and even the acting was strong so I'll give it a few stars there but other than that, it just got tedious and I pretty much was waiting for the ending to arrive.