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Edmund Lee

3.5/5 stars
Few movies take their stories’ underlying messages quite as literally as Last Song for You, a poetic and poignant romance drama that urges its jaded viewers to reconnect with their younger, purer selves – and it has the audacity to employ the most unsophisticated conception of time travel to do so.
Scripted and directed by first-time filmmaker Jill Leung Lai-yin, whose previous co-writing credits – for action epics such as Paradox and Ip Man 4: The Finale – belied the hopeless romantic at his heart, the film is one of the most satisfying “healing dramas” to have come out of Hong Kong cinema at a time when loss and regret are among its hottest themes.
With a Chinese title that means “to meet again after a long separation”, Last Song for You opens with a chance encounter between So Sing-wah (Ekin Cheng Yee-kin) and Ha Man-huen (Cecilia Choi Si-wan) in a hospital. The two once shared a swoonworthy romance as high-school students on Hong Kong’s Cheung Chau island but are now both at the lowest of low points.


A once-successful Cantopop songwriter who has lost his touch, So struggles to come up with even one new tune when he is not drinking his sorrows away. Shortly after that brief meeting with Ha, however, he is heartbroken to discover that she has unexpectedly died due to complications from surgery.
A young girl who looks exactly like the teenage Ha (played by Natalie Hsu En-yi) then shows up at his door, claiming to be Summer, the deceased woman’s daughter. At once confused and intrigued by her invitation to join her in Japan to scatter Ha’s ashes there, So goes along – and a dreamlike trip down memory lane ensues.
To get any more specific about the film’s unabashed turn into wish-fulfilment fantasy in its second half would spoil the reservoir of emotions in store here. Suffice to say that when the teenage Ha tells the young So (Mirror member Ian Chan Cheuk-yin) that “I’ve seen you in the future, believe me”, she may really mean it.
It is hard to think of another recent local film that manages to nail its casting this well. Cheng is refreshing in the seriousness of his character, while Chan, who is not the most expressive of actors, slips perfectly into the role of a quiet and innocent young man who still believes in his music dream.

Choi, in her limited screen time, brings a touch of tranquillity to the tragic romance. But it is Hsu, the film’s most important part by some distance, who elevates it all with a beautifully genuine, heart-melting performance that instantly announces her as a future star in the making.
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Ian Chan (front) and Natalie Hsu in a still from Last Song for You.

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Natalie Hsu, helped by Ekin Cheng and Mirror’s Ian Chan, shines in this Hong Kong healing drama about memories, regret and lost love


Natalie Hsu, helped by Ekin Cheng and Mirror’s Ian Chan, shines in this Hong Kong healing drama about memories, regret and lost love.


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An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

Review | Last Song for You movie review: Natalie Hsu melts hearts in poignant fantasy romance drama

Natalie Hsu, helped by Ekin Cheng and Mirror’s Ian Chan, shines in this Hong Kong healing drama about memories, regret and lost love