| From Riley Yip (Metade Fumaca) comes this beautiful looking (no surprise that the production was designed by Hai Chung Man, costumes by Dora Ng and director of photography Chan Chi-Ying shoots some wonderful scenic views), Lunar New Year period comedy. Revisiting the plot about aromatherapy, as also seen in Yip's Lavender, a lowly expert in the field, Kai (Richie Ren), is one of two that are given the task of making the perfect perfume for the Emperor's Princess (Miriam Yeung). Why? She has Severe Atypical Reeking Syndrome (yes, that spells SARS). The one who succeeds, also gets the Princess hand in marriage. Kai befriends a local, also very smelly, fishmonger, Heung to experiment on but unbeknownst to him, but not unbeknownst to us, Heung is actually the Princess herself.
Nothing astonishing happens in terms of storyline or characters but the mentioned look of the production and the likable stars Miriam Yeung & Richie Ren, makes this a rather pleasant 100 minutes of Hong Kong romance and fun. Admittedly, some of the comedy sadly is on the less sophisticated side but Riley's script still manages to find time for emotions to be invested in characters and there's clearly a few more notches of effort in Elixir Of Love than in most Lunar New Year offerings. Pace is brisk overall although in the end, the feeling is that somewhere in the middle material could've been trimmed. This film does nothing to progress Riley Yip as a director, nor is the romance the greatest. However, it clearly doesn't stink. Co-starring Kenny Bee, Eric Kot and Lam Suet. |
