Love in the River (1998)
Reviewed by: White Dragon on 2005-11-16
Two stories exploring (superficially) the human traits of trust and mistrust. Story one concerns market operator Heung (Emily Kwan), a thrice widowed woman whom many that surround her suspect of murdering her husbands. Slacker newspaper journalist Lau (Mark Cheng) tails her as his big story, falling into a tryst as well as potential personal danger. Story two follows the weekend tale of Idol (Marianne Choi), an office girl who retires to the work sponsored coastal resort chalet with her colleagues and falls for the charms of local lad Nan (Patrick Tam). But are his intentions entirely noble, or is he only after a one night stand?

Another fluff piece, from Chu Wai Kwong (of EVIL INSTINCT notoriety), that is essentially filler. The first story is moderately engaging, the second merely lightweight padding. I had read that this was one of the worst HK films ever made – it wasn’t; just a middling two act anthology. Though often cited as two unrelated stories pasted together, the theme of the production as a whole is the exploration of trust within relationships (each story recounting a different tale as examples of the central thematic). Story one works the best, even if it over-reaches its subject matter in its time alotted, and story two is merely an inoffensive love story offset with summer resort travelogue footage. Hardly the worst HK film ever made, merely an adequate time waster.
Reviewer Score: 4