The film is full of cutesy indulgences. There's a bowl full of keys in the cafe and the guy (who happens to have a photographic memory) knows the story behind each one. So evocative! So twee! In Wong Kar-wai's best films, this over-cute, dreamy atmosphere is undercut by desperation, loss, broken hearts. Here, we have the low-key drama of long-distance romance and always the possibility that the guy won't get the girl in the end, but the protagonists seem so serene, so untroubled, that the stakes disappear entirely.
The film is not bad, mind you. There are worse ways to spend time than watching two cute star-crossed lovers. It never really achieves the sublime tenderness of Chunking Express or In the Mood For Love. I wonder if this film being in English made it more immediate to me, less mystical. Often the space given to a film by subtitles allows for a bit more of my subjectivity to creep in, to allow me to be a little more generous with my readings and interpretations. Maybe it was just that that was lacking.
So this film is not that amazing, but it's far from bad. It's the sort of slight little film that would surprise and maybe charm you as it popped up on some TV channel, back in the days before the buffet-style TV we have now. A nice, little movie.
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