Starting out as a fairly standard romantic drama, Tempting Heart develops increasing layers of emotional complexity to become a moving tale of remembered love and lost friendship, with strong perfs by a name cast. Sylvia Chang has walked this road before in her sophomore helming outing, Passion, about two friends who recall their love for the same man. But in the dozen or so years since, she's developed a more relaxed confidence in her material and actors, with less grandstanding of emotions. As a tale of teenage love unspools between shy Shao-rou (elfin-faced Gigi Leung) and introspective, guitar-strumming Ho-chuen (Takeshi Kaneshiro), we realize we're watching the real-life youth - or maybe an interpretation - of 40-something filmmaker Cheryl (Chang), who wants to make a pic about first love and hires a writer to help her. Leung, one of Hong Kong's most charismatic young actresses, is excellent as Shao-rou, and manages the transition from klutzy teenager to confidant businesswoman without overdoing either.
Derek Elley