Lavender (2000)
Reviewed by: MilesC on 2001-01-27
Summary: Well, this is a first...
I actually agree to an extent with Jun Yan AND HK's dreaded movie-Grinch Paul Fonoroff? I couldn't be more shocked.

I enjoyed Riley Yip's two previous films, "Love is Not a Game, But a Joke" and "Metade Fumaca." Neither was perfect, and were certainly far from straightforward; "Metade Fumaca" in particular, though, had a lot of interesting characters and situations, attractive photography, and a sense of whimsy. The formula is repeated somewhat in "Lavender," but the whimsy here feels forced; as the review below states, the intent of more than a few scenes is unclear. Takeshi Kaneshiro and the score add to the annoyance of these scenes; both are far too "cute" for their own good.

It doesn't help that much of the film revolves around aroma-therapy, which I consider pretty suspect and hippy-ish.

Still, things aren't all bad. You could hardly ask for a more attractive pair of leads, and it does have attractive locations and photography. While there are some sickeningly cute scenes, things aren't as boring as they could be. Still, when the highlights are appearances by favorite extras Doofy Cop and Bad Skin Guy, you know a movie's in trouble. If nothing else, though, I can at least say that Lavender is much more engaging than the Christmas season's loud and embarrassingly poor action titles. I wouldn't particularly want to watch this movie again, but at least I didn't feel like throwing the VCD across the room like I did when I watched China Strike Force.