"I'm dreaming a little dream of you".. That was what The Leap Years was, a dream that seemed surreal in every way and unfolds quietly and unassumingly. Of chasing after a dream that one knows one can grasp, as long as one believes and not crumble under doubt. The movie confronts the age-old dilemma for dreamers: whether to believe unwaveringly in the existence of The One. Wrapped in the wistfulness of February and magic of Feb 29, the answer that the movie gives is an equivocal "yes". Although it would take a little more to convince the cynics.
My sister didn't quite like the parallel storyline and confused chronological order and the fact that the "most important" happily-ever-after was never shown in the movie. I saw however, a different sort of romanticism, one which didn't try to be optimistic, only honest to itself. The very last scene that was closet to "happily-ever-after" was enough for me. There was for me a sense of closure that didn't need explicit portrayal.
Technicalities wise, dreamy cinematography made our dear sunny island more than a tad romantic; there were no harsh HDB skylines or overexposed scenes of busy streets and crowds, but low key lighting that cloaked the languid streets of Chinatown in a gentle hue of romance and dreams. Talk about looking at the world through rose-tinted lens. i loved the swirling scene in the bar when Li-Ann was with her friends when she recited the line with a sort of pensive reflection, "it's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all". The camera movement was energetic and captured the exchange very well. 2 thumbs up for Li Lin's best performance yet. She was Li Ann, a fiery romantic staunch in her dreams; confident, unassuming, positive, energetic, spirited. She sketched, she wrote poems, she dreamt, she waited, she wept. I am utterly enamored by Li Ann. Her older self, Joan Chen, gave a good performance but she was severely limited by her part in the movie, which was predominantly about a trip down the memory lane; the present reality is but a literary device to make it more enticing.
i cringed whenever Qi Yi Wu appeared; i don't think he played the role of KS very well. The guy who acted as Raymond would have given a more convincing performance i believe. To be honest, Ananda didn't have very good chemistry with Li Lin either, but i think Li Lin was the saving grace of the entire movie. Plus the beautiful cinematography and portrayal of a city capable of love and to be loved. Singapore Tourism Board would be very excited. The quotes that pop up once in a while tightens the story rather well but borders on being cliche on their own (Think Shakespeare's "It is not in the stars that hold our destiny but in ourselves"). [i think i heaved a sigh of relief that the epitome of cheesiness "If you love him let him go" didn't come up. It would have been a real demerit point for me.] i also thought it was irritating to not know who Li Ann ended up with because the figure on the hospital bed remained anonymous till the very end. At first, it seemed like a pretty cool literary device to retain an air of mystery as the story progressed, but being too stingy with the cues (such as facial features of Jeremy) made the ending less convincing.
Perfection is plastic, when it comes to dreams. I think the flaws in the movie make the dream a little more real.