Wasn't able to make it out to any of the ACMI screenings but stumbled across a cheap ex-rental video copy of this while looking for Ghost World and swooped upon it. A rare treat it is, too - thoughtful and meditative but also laugh-out-loud funny, and it left me with a really warm, happy feeling. Its pleasures are at one and the same time immediate (the kinetic, colourful, in-love-with-pop-culture style, the joy of the characterisations and characters' interactions, the nonchalantly off-the-wall elements...) and subtle (these latter being of their nature harder to specify, but the numerous manners in which the two storylines parallel each other are a significant aspect); it's garish and energetic but also rather deep and is just satisfying on every level.
The actors playing the four central roles were all very good. Faye Wong, who I know as a mega pop-star with a penchant for covering English pop songs - or, at least, adopting their melodies - was cute and nowhere near as annoying as I'd have expected, but Tony Leung really stood out. I'm sold on him - for he has great screen charisma and I can fully understand why he's such a favourite of the fairer sex (on top of that, he's a good actor, though that's almost beside the point!). Liked the use of pop music, too ("California Dreaming" and a Cantonese cover of the Cranberries' "Dreams"), a far cry from the cringe-worthy appearance of the canto-pop version of "Take My Breath Away" in As Tears Go By - in another film, I might have found the repetition and extended playing annoying, but here it works really well.
In two words, sheer delight.
