Back in 1999, producers from Hong Kong and Japan had an idea of bringing together Leslie Cheung, then at the apogee of his career, and Takako Tokiwa, widely known as ‘Queen of Serial Drama’ for her roles and awards on TV, in order to present a movie that moves between the romantic drama and the crime film, probably in an effort to capitalize in terms of commercial success. The result was not exactly masterful, but there are definitely enough elements here to make the movie worth watching. Let us take things from the beginning though.
Hitomi is a Japanese girl who is about to get married to her fiance Tetsuya and move to Hong Kong with him. However, a tragic car accident ends up with him dead and her in Hong Kong trying to find some sort of solace from her ongoing grief. Kar-bo is an undercover policeman, who has put his life repeatedly into danger only to be accused by his colleagues for being in cahoots with the criminals he is supposed to give information for. In the midst of his case, he meets Hitomi, and his incredible resemblance with Tetsuya makes the girl follow him in his effort to get away from all who hunt him and to clear his name. Their relationship, however, is anything but easy.
Daniel Lee comes up with a film that can only be described as a mixed bag for a number of reasons, since it boasts both its traits and its flaws in the most obvious fashion. In that regard, the effort to please the crowds and promote (the actors and the musicians) in markets outside their country is as evident as possible. The casting, not only of the protagonists, but also of actors like Michelle Yeoh, Sam Lee and Jack Kao highlights this approach as much as the almost constant use of songs throughout the movie. The juxtaposition of romantic drama elements with crime ones also moves in the same path, with their combination, however, not working particularly well, especially in terms of script, which lingers between the cliche, the illogical and the cheesy on a number of instances.
On the other hand, these two aspects are quite well presented individually, with the underground cop who finds himself in trouble from his own allies being excellently implemented in the narrative, particularly in the action scenes, where Venus Keung, Chan Chi-ying and Thomas Yeung’s cinematography and Eric Kwong and Azrael Chung’s editing find their apogee. The tension that is emitted in those scenes is one of the movie’s best traits, even if the final one on the precinct does not stand to too much scrutiny. The romantic arc benefits the most by the evident charisma and beauty of the two actors, with Cheung looking cool and distant and Tokiwa cheerful and willing to open up, while the grief they both harbor adds a very appealing level of drama to the whole thing. And although together both actors are at their best, individually their performances suffer, with Tokiwa being excessive in the way she depicts her emotions (too kawaii one could say), and Cheung frequently looking a bit too cool, probably in a failed effort to mimic Chow Yun-Fat‘s style.
The depiction of the various locations is another of the movie’s traits, with all the settings being well-portrayed despite their plethora, with the DPs doing an excellent job in that regard. The coloring, on the other hand, with the intense combination of saturated greens and blues does become annoying after a fashion, particularly in the action scenes.
“Moonlight Express” has at least as much faults as it has traits, but definitely deserves a watch for Leslie Cheung’s presence (who looks better than ever), the overall cast and as a sample of an early effort at inter-Asian co-productions
