Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 09/17/2006 Summary: melodramatic ghost story This romantic, melodramatic ghost story put me in touch with my feminine side almost immediately. I was crying during the first thirty minutes. Producer and director Dante Lam Chiu-Yin does a solid job with the screenplay by Chan Man-Yau and Ross Lee Lok-Wah. Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung and Karena Lam Ka-Yan are so damn cute as the star-crossed lovers. Nic plays a deaf postman while Karena portrays a ballet dancer on the verge of a big break. They have several flirtatious encounters before tragedy strikes as they begin a love affair. The film plays out lots of human/ghost interaction which reaches new levels of lunacy. Bring a large dose of suspension of disbelief and go with the flow. Co-star Eason Chan Yik-Shun handles much of the comedy element while the rest pretend to dance ballet. The dance sequences are quite compelling in that they clearly show that the lead actors, especially Candy Lo Hau-Yam, have little dancing ability. Camera angles and sharp editing do a good job hiding their shortcomings. Tiramisu gets high marks for all technical aspects. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 05/27/2003 Summary: Ummm........ I found this movie just a bit too unbelieveable. Ok it is about a ghost loving a human and about a ghost ambition to see her "task" to be completed on this earth. But the lack of care that Nic Tse is SEEING A GHOST causes some amazement. It's like it's a everyday thing that ghosts talk to people!! He wasn't even scared or shocked!! Eason Chan i just find plain annoying in most of the movies he is in. As a romantic drama, it come off ok. I don't find anything new here but the ending is definately a tear jerker. But that doesn't help the rest of the film. i wanted to like this film but ended up disappointed. I was a bit bored watching this. I feel generous giving this: 5/10

Reviewed by: danton Date: 12/26/2002 Like Stephen Fung's B-movie Shadow, this production attempts to marry the conventions of teenage romance films with the classic HK ghost story. However, given the casting of teen idol Nic Tse and newcomer Karena Lam, it's pretty clear that the emphasis is very heavily on the teen romance side of things, with very little thought or screen time given to the ghost angle. So there are no taoist spells, no floating females etc. In fact, were it not for a brief sequence set in the underworld, the ghost angle would almost be completely absent here save for its sole narrative function, which is to add a degree of high melodrama to the doomed romance between the two leads. Nic plays a deaf postal worker who runs into a young dancer played by Karena Lam on the MTR somewhere around Jordan station. They exchange glances, there's chemistry, and then they keep bumping into each other. We all know what this means: they're meant for each other. Except that fate sometimes is ironic, and in this case poor Karena gets killed in a traffic accident before love can truly bloom. The movie almost glosses over this rather crucial story element, and if you don't pay close attention you'll miss it. Once Karena is dead, she begins to hang out with Nic, ostensably because she doesn't want to leave until her dance troupe has competed in a scheduled dance competition seven days later. This whole angle is pretty weak and doesn't provide very strong motivations, although it does give opportunity for both Nic and supporting actor Candy Lo to pretend they know how to dance. Anyway, Nic and Karena roam around HK, some love ballads are sung, love blooms after all, and I was wishing they would have cut a good twenty minutes out of the movie which was beginning to seriously drag. Things pick up a bit when the underworld police arrest Karena and drag her back to where she belongs - Nic does the manly thing and follows her, and it turns out the underworld looks very much like an 18th century French castle. Still, given the limited budget, the filmmakers manage to carry this of fairly well, and then we move towards the inevitable bittersweet happy end. Eason Chan does his usual clown routine as Nic's friend, there's some more kitschy dancing, and some people eat some Tiramisu. Recommended only if you need your daily fill of Nic Tse while he's gone in jail (if that's where he ends up) or if you were planning to make some Tiramisu but don't have a recipe handy.

Reviewed by: reelcool Date: 08/03/2002 Summary: Boring Stuff This movie is really the work of a master, anesthesiologist. A pretentious, piece of melodrama worthy of hardcore, insomniacs. Whatever interests I once had for "dance, ghosts, or romance", has now been replaced by zzz ...'s. I recommend this movie in place of a sleeping pill. The pill only causes drowsiness, the movie is guaranteed to put you to sleep.

Reviewed by: samgava Date: 07/19/2002 Summary: To much for me Ok, at the start of the movie you think... mmm it look cool! The photography is good, the main actor, it's an HK idol and the girl is very very pretty. But as the movie goes on you see that the story turns to strange at first, to an super sweet. At times very insoportable. All the time is so obvious that the intention is make the girl look cute and the boy too. And the dance scenes are to much for me... at times you feel shame too watch at the TV. Really is so incredible all the argument, the "guardians of the underworld" give more laugh than fear. Don't be misled by the cover.

Reviewed by: Paul Fox Date: 04/16/2002 Summary: Sentimental Taste Leaves Tiramisu Slightly Bitter. Tiramisu is a modern day take on the classic Chinese Ghost Story theme. From its outlook (and even its' trailer) the film seems to be something entirely different and in this may have been a bit intentional on the part of the filmmakers, but make no mistake the parallels are certainly apparent. Gou Fung (Nicholas Tse) is a modern day delivery boy. His job takes him into a series of chance encounters with Jane Chan (Karena Lam) who is avidly training for a dance competition with her best friend Tina (Candy Lo) and a team of dancers. But when tragedy strikes, Jane soon finds herself counted among the non-living and so she turns to Gou Fung for help. For the style of film that Tiramsu is Nicholas and Karena both do well in their roles. However, they are slightly upstaged by their costars Candy Lo and Eason Chan, both of whom seem to have far more interesting characters. Candy Lo in particular gives a very strong performance. The film has several highly emotional moments that serve up sentiment as entree, main course and dessert. For some viewers it may be hard to keep a dry eye during a few of these moments, yet others may find it too blatant and overbearing. The cinematography is quite good except for a few of the MTR sequences which seemed to have been shot in a 'hit and run' manner. Corresponding with the plot of the dance competition, there also a few dance sequences which are nicely filmed and well choreographed. The film's format runs well enough until the introduction of the otherworldly menace which comes in the form of 'ghost police'. Looking more like something from a really bad 'Hells Angels' film, these literal Hell's angels are given the task of hunting down runaway ghosts and dragging them back to hell to be reincarnated for their next life. And, according to the visions of the filmmakers, Hell in this case is an old abandoned castle in France. But then again, maybe it's not that far fetched... Overall review rating - 3 (out of 5) Review by Paul Fox Location: AMC Festival Walk Time: Wednesday 10 March 2002 9:30pm