Lost and Found (1996)

Lel me start by saying this movie really put a spell on me. I was absolutely captivated by it I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. I can't really put my hands exactly enchanted me but I guess the whole ensemble worked well for me, and created something magical in the atmosphere. It did help that I didn't know anything about it when I started watching it. I went in without knowing what the movie was about and what it was aiming for.

The story is about a terminally ill girl who is set to her lost love. That may sound cheesy, and I myself am not a fan of terminally ill drama but this movie take a refreshing perspective to it. Instead of it being about a woman facing death, it is more about self-discovery and the magic in life. The movie is narrated by the protagonist, as if reading off her diary. Her voice is monotonous which may sound dull but actually works pretty well with the mood of the movie and her character. While meeting both Ted and Mr. Worm, she was more about looking for something she's been missing in her life, and only after trying to make miracles for others that she managed uncover it. A factor worth mentioning is the use of music here. I think it was cleverly used to elevate the movie and set the mood of the story. It is one of the elements that completely absorbed me.

If I am to evaluate acting, I need to first mention the casting. I'm pretty new to Hong Kong movies so my knowledge of their actors is limited compared to say Japanese and Korean, and even Taiwanese. That is to say, I don't know if other actors and actrices would've fit the roles better than the cast of this movie, but I found that the current cast did fit their roles well. If I were to talk about performance, I'd say other than Kaneshiro Takeshi, the acting did not impress. I'm not saying that because of my bias for Kaneshiro Takeshi, but his character was the only one that felt different, otherworldly, a magician as Lam called him and he was a natural at it. The rest of the cast managed to play their characters, more or less, but none added anything that was noticeable.

In the end, we have an ordinary story about ordinary people written smartly, with great music and interesting character all put well together to make such an engaging movie by the director. I guess that is what they mean by the sum is greater than the parts.

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A charming movie with small, meaningful moments

This is not a happy movie, however I often found myself smiling at the screen. There is something different about the atmosphere, about the music, the cinematography that really captivates you.

The highlight for me is the ML (Na Kou Chong, not Ted), he's a rain of sunshine, he's someone who brings the spark of magic that keeps this movie alive. One of the very few characters I completely rooted for from start to finish, and people like him really make the world a better place.

I gave the story an 8 - while it created and weaved so many small moments, towards the end everything became a bit fast-forwarded, forced and confusing. I feel like at points we were presented with the facts, the results rather than processes. I personally dislike how much the story shifted towards Ted in the later stages of the movie, I felt it was completely unecessary. Ted should have been left as the starting point of the plot, not used "as catalyst" in order to progress towards the end.

It might look that the small stories contained in the plot don't have much importance in the big picture. However, they show us how much happiness we can bring to people through our actions. Each of them brings a lesson, and their meaning is for us to decide.

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