Action, comedy, and romance converge in Benny Chan's 1990 neon-saturated directorial debut. Produced by Ringo Lam and Johnnie To, A Moment of Romance resulted in a Hong Kong hit that spawned two sequels.
Cantopop star Andy Lau, already well established as a dramatic actor—particularly after a similar turn in Wong Kar-wai's 1988 As Tears Go By—plays Wah Dee, a triad member who never knew his father, but three godmothers (Lo Kam, Sandra Lang, and Shan Liang) have kept an eye on him ever since his mother, a sex worker, took her life the year before.
In the wake of a heist gone wrong, Wah Dee grabs 16-year-old bystander Jo Jo (Chien-Lien Wu) as a human shield to prevent the cops from killing him as he speeds away. When he meets up with his double-crossing gang, they underpay him, claiming that the teenager could be a liability, but he saves her from harm, retrieves his motorcycle, lights his car on fire, and drives her home.
Unbeknownst to Wah Dee—until that moment-—Jo Jo comes from wealth. Though rattled by the near-death experience, she takes a shine to the brooding gangster (it's to the charismatic Lau's credit that he makes Wah Dee more appealing than James Yuen's script suggests). Though "manic pixie dream girl" wasn't yet part of the parlance, sweet, pretty, and patient Jo Jo fits the bill.
If Wah Dee does little to encourage her, Jo Jo inserts herself into his life alongside street hustler Tai Bo (Man-Tat Ng), the film's comic relief. However, associating with gangsters leads to perilous situations, complicated by disappointed parents and preparations for college. Though he has feelings for her, Wah Dee encourages Jo Jo to move on for her own good, but she won't be deterred, even when he trashes her work after she repairs his jacket, washes his clothes, and scrubs every inch of his bachelor pad.
As the love affair heats up, Wah Dee gets caught up in deadly triad intrigues, leading him to hide out in Macau, where Jo Jo tracks him down. No matter how melodramatic the scenario grows, though, Lau and Wu always acquit themselves nicely.
Though Jo Jo turns 17 during the film, the age difference doesn't play as well now as it did in 1990, and her deference to Wah Dee verges on the masochistic, not least when he roughs her up, but A Moment of Romance is never less than engaging.
Though Benny Chan receives credit, the special features--from Frank Djeng's commentary track to David Desser's visual essay to the essays from Sean Gilman and Tony Williams--make it clear that Johnnie To, Chan's mentor, directed much of the film. Fortunately, Chan (1961-2020) would handle subsequent work on his own, while his stars would continue to enjoy further success, notably, To's Running Out of Time for Andy Lau and Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman for Chien-Lien Wu.
Where does this title belong on library shelves?
A Moment of Romance belongs on Hong Kong, Asian, action, crime, and drama shelves in academic and public libraries with other titles by Benny Chan, Johnnie To, Ringo Lam, and Andy Lau, like Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's 2002 undercover thriller Infernal Affairs, which also spawned two sequels and inspired Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning The Departed.
What kind of film series could use this title?
A Moment of Romance would fit with film series on Hong Kong action and crime pictures of the 1990s.
What type of instructors will use this title?
Undergraduate and graduate-level film studies instructors could use A Moment of Romance in a course or section on 20th-century Hong Kong cinema, particularly that of the 1980s and 1990s when "heroic bloodshed" films reigned supreme.