Kaneshiro Takeshi and Gigi Leung play would-be lovers held back from crossing paths a second time in Turn Left Turn Right, Hong Kong’s most charming romance movie of 2003. The pair are neighbours who meet by chance in a park when translator Eve (Leung) drops her papers in a fountain. Violinist John (Kaneshiro) leaps up to help and when they later dry the papers on a grassy slope, the pair hit it off immediately. Conversation turns to the past and to their surprise they realise it’s not the first time they’ve met. Spotting their landlords in the park soon afterwards and both needing to run away from them, John and Eve quickly trade phone numbers and head separate ways.
Back in their homes, the two pull out the scraps of paper they wrote the phone numbers on but both find rain has smudged the writing beyond recognition. Unable to call each other and not knowing that only a wall separates their homes, John and Eve fall ill while hoping destiny can bring them together a third time. When a waitress (Terri Kwan) and a doctor (Edmund Chen) find out what’s going on when they watch from the sidelines, will they come to the rescue and help bring John and Eve together again?
Set in Taipei and based on the popular book Turn Left Turn Right (aka A Chance of Sunshine) by Taiwanese illustrator and author Jimmy Liao, Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai’s movie is a delight to take in. The premise is a simple one with drama building on people living in parallel lives, and the original story of John and Eve is embellished with fast-talking comedy from the waitress and doctor. Themes of fate unfold in a series of entertaining coincidences and characters are pumped up with odd quirks ably brought to the screen in Kaneshiro and Leung’s memorable performances.
Tim Youngs