Basic Love (愛情故事) is a 2009 film out of Hong Kong. The three leads in the movie are Janice Man, Elanne Kwong, and Rex Ho. Jones Xu has a supporting role and Cheng Pei-Pei makes an cameo appearance.
The movie is about 2 gals and 1 guy. These three have been friends since junior high. Rex Ho plays Rex, a pizza delivery boy that is working on music and hoping his band can succeed. Janice Man plays June, the daughter of a fish monger and the quiet one of the trio. Elanne Kwong plays Ling, the outgoing and charismatic one of the group. Ling however has a secret that she's kept from her 2 friends. Ling has leukemia and doesn't have long to live. You may have guessed that if there are 3, there's got to be some kind love triangle. If you did, you're certainly right. Both gals like Rex, but Rex likes Ling. Ling however always pushes Rex towards June because she doesn't want to get into a relationship since she about to die at anytime. However, Rex cares about Ling and secretly does many things for her. Things that Ling doesn't know about but June does. June even starts dating another guy to forget Rex. But June's love for Rex is too strong and the relationship doesn't last.
As the movie goes along, Ling's secret is out and Rex comes clean about his feelings for Ling. Rex is able to spend a lot of time with Ling during her last days. June ends up going out of the country to school.
I wasn't really looking forward to this movie due to the poor review it received at LoveHKFilm. However, that was before La Lingerie and before I knew who Janice Man was. I noticed Janice on the cover in my video rental place and had to snap it up. I was not disappointed. Janice Man is only 20 years old, but she's shunning and comes off late 20-ish. The photo of Janice in front of a Basic Love poster was taken from her very open Xanga blog. Janice does wear a very fake looking wig for 99% of the movie. But her beauty was able to shine through still.
The movie is extremely slow. Very slow pace. And the colors abound to convey emotions of the seasons. You'll see a lot of unfocused shots. But what is most striking to me is the head shots and how the actors had to act with their facial expressions. The slight flicker of the eyes or the slight turn of the head.
The literal Chinese translation of the title would be "Love Story". And this movie totally reminded me of the 1970 Love Story. Maybe they wanted to differentiate from it and called it basic love.
In all, if you're looking for 96 mins of a simple love story based around leukemia and a love triangle that seemingly works out. I would suggest this. You should note that Janice Man is in this movie and gives a breakout performance.
