This review may contain spoilers
Watch Once, Hold In You Heart Forever
This had no business being so good, but also had no business being so sad. If you want to watch a movie where the first half is quirky and cute, while the second half will make you ugly cry, this one is a great one!
I knew what I was getting myself into with a "mob"-esq story, but Netflix recommended this to me and I didn't really feel strongly about watching something else so here I was in the same cycle. Probably going to watch a beautiful love story between a "school girl innocent" type and a "mobster with a heart of gold," and have it destroyed in the last few minutes due to "the mob life."
And this drama did have that element and storyline, but it was done in such a cute and quirky and sad way, that I was glued to the screen even though I knew something bad was going to happen. BUT unlike other "mob" stories, we got a happy ending or as much of a happy ending that we could have gotten with this tragic story.
I fell in love with A Cheng - we learn right from the beginning that he had a heart of gold, but for some reason was a debt collecting leader. He would go to collect debt from people and business owners, but instead of collecting money, he would help out in any way, and add their debt to his debt. In the beginning, we see him as a hero and maybe working on the inside to help out others who owe debt, but then we realize that he wants to help people, he just doesn't know how to do it any other way. He had a heart of gold, but didn't know how to handle every situation in another way - undercover, he was a hero and a caregiver, but to everyone else, he looked like the scum of the earth.
My favorite part of this film would have to be when he started pursuing Hao Ting - I loved the music score that they choose as if there was some kind of training montage that was taking place in the 80's but in reality, A Cheng was just convincing Hao Ting to date him romantically. I loved the funeral scene when A Cheng starts to realize that she was falling for A Cheng, and then when they go bowling and A Cheng decides to break out in song and dance. It was quirky! It was cute! It was cheesy!
But of course, there has to be a low cause not everything can be sunshine and rainbows. A Cheng falls back into old ways, and ends up in a dark place, which is when we find out some terrible news that changes A Cheng's life and makes him decide what is worth fighting for. I believe the reason why I ugly cried so much is because A Cheng was genuinely a great person who had his character and integrity put into question on multiple occasions by the same people who happened to be the ones closest to him. He had his bad days, which seemed to always be when everyone was around and he didn't always know how to express his words. And at those times when he needed someone there for him, it seemed as if those people would give up. A Cheng didn't take care of people because he wanted to be taken care of in return, and he didn't put his good deeds on a loud speaker for everyone to know. He did good things without thinking about it. He wasn't a perfect person, but he wanted to put more good out into the world than all the bad that was happening. And even til the end of the movie, even after the movie's climax settled, he took care of the people around him and made sure everyone was happy and taken care of.
Just remembering this film while writing this review gets me very emotional as A Cheng deserved a better life, but he was happy with what he had, and made everyone around him smile.
I hope Roy Chiu who played A Cheng won an aware for this movie, because it was amazing. It is definitely one of those films that you only watch once , but you hold in your heart for a while.
I knew what I was getting myself into with a "mob"-esq story, but Netflix recommended this to me and I didn't really feel strongly about watching something else so here I was in the same cycle. Probably going to watch a beautiful love story between a "school girl innocent" type and a "mobster with a heart of gold," and have it destroyed in the last few minutes due to "the mob life."
And this drama did have that element and storyline, but it was done in such a cute and quirky and sad way, that I was glued to the screen even though I knew something bad was going to happen. BUT unlike other "mob" stories, we got a happy ending or as much of a happy ending that we could have gotten with this tragic story.
I fell in love with A Cheng - we learn right from the beginning that he had a heart of gold, but for some reason was a debt collecting leader. He would go to collect debt from people and business owners, but instead of collecting money, he would help out in any way, and add their debt to his debt. In the beginning, we see him as a hero and maybe working on the inside to help out others who owe debt, but then we realize that he wants to help people, he just doesn't know how to do it any other way. He had a heart of gold, but didn't know how to handle every situation in another way - undercover, he was a hero and a caregiver, but to everyone else, he looked like the scum of the earth.
My favorite part of this film would have to be when he started pursuing Hao Ting - I loved the music score that they choose as if there was some kind of training montage that was taking place in the 80's but in reality, A Cheng was just convincing Hao Ting to date him romantically. I loved the funeral scene when A Cheng starts to realize that she was falling for A Cheng, and then when they go bowling and A Cheng decides to break out in song and dance. It was quirky! It was cute! It was cheesy!
But of course, there has to be a low cause not everything can be sunshine and rainbows. A Cheng falls back into old ways, and ends up in a dark place, which is when we find out some terrible news that changes A Cheng's life and makes him decide what is worth fighting for. I believe the reason why I ugly cried so much is because A Cheng was genuinely a great person who had his character and integrity put into question on multiple occasions by the same people who happened to be the ones closest to him. He had his bad days, which seemed to always be when everyone was around and he didn't always know how to express his words. And at those times when he needed someone there for him, it seemed as if those people would give up. A Cheng didn't take care of people because he wanted to be taken care of in return, and he didn't put his good deeds on a loud speaker for everyone to know. He did good things without thinking about it. He wasn't a perfect person, but he wanted to put more good out into the world than all the bad that was happening. And even til the end of the movie, even after the movie's climax settled, he took care of the people around him and made sure everyone was happy and taken care of.
Just remembering this film while writing this review gets me very emotional as A Cheng deserved a better life, but he was happy with what he had, and made everyone around him smile.
I hope Roy Chiu who played A Cheng won an aware for this movie, because it was amazing. It is definitely one of those films that you only watch once , but you hold in your heart for a while.
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