|
|
FLY ME TO POLARIS (1999) |
|
Fantasies aside, this gorgeous film deals with issues of life and death, love and sadness, corruption and innocence, all packaged neatly into a romantic tragic love story. Onion (Richie Ren) is blind as well as dumb, but he enjoys life to the fullest. He works in a hospital, where he met a nurse named Autumn (Cecilia Cheung), and as time flies, he finds himself falling in love with the lovable Autumn. One night, when Autumn implies her feelings towards him, he is so happy that he wanders across a road and gets run over by a car. He ends up en route to Polaris, the mystic heavenly place where people go after death. However, because he is the 600 millionth person who died, he is granted a wish by the angel (Eric Kot) in reception. Onion decides to go back to Earth, but he is only granted five days, and no one will be able to recognise him. Nonetheless, he returns, and finds himself seeing and talking, but no one knows he is Onion, although he knows who they are. He disguises himself as an insurance broker so as to get near Autumn with an excuse that Onion had left a sum of money for her. As the hours turn into days, Onion tries desperately to tell Autumn who he really is but with no luck, but a friend of his (Eric Tsang) realises that he is Onion because of his mannerisms, behaviour and habits. Towards the end, Autumn finally puts two and two together to discover that this man really is her beloved Onion, back from the dead. Some will view this film as a load of sentimental pap, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only does it provides a lot of questions and anwsers, it is also one of the best romantically tragic films of all time. One that certainly tugs your heart-strings, and brings tears to your eyes, daring you not to sympathise with the couple. The subject of a person losing a loved one has been successfully told in films such as Ghost, and this is similar in structure. Yet I feel this film is more poignant, and to an extent, more sadder than Ghost. While there are humourous scenes in Ghost, Fly Me to Polaris has hardly any humour to it during the second half of the film, focusing on Onion's plight, and Autumn's lost. An interesting subtext within the film is when Onion discovers to his own horror, that he is becoming more abusive, selfish, and envious when he returns to Earth, simply because he can see and talk. He realises that he felt better when he was blind and dumb, at least then he would not be corrupted by the evils of men. To a large extent, this is considered true. People are generally materialistic, and often desire objects that are valuable - who doesn't want a Ferrari, or a brand spanking home cinema kit, or jewellery, or having a beautiful woman by your side? If you're blind, none of these things matter to you, so you become more materialistically-free. Ironically, you become happier in life. This is what Onion felt when he returned to Earth, and like the angel would say, he would regret his decision. Overall, Fly Me to Polaris is a strong film, committed to not only tell a deep tragic story but to focus on issues that are often missed by other films. The film is also helped by the excellent performances by Richie Ren and Cecilia Cheung, who literally cries her way through the whole film.
|
|
|
        |
|
RATING 9 / 10 |