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Sausalito (can)
 Ellen, a divorced
Chinese-American woman, is a cab driver in San Francisco. One day, she met Mike at a
singles' bar and lust and passion ignited between them. Touched by Ellen's love and
sincerity, Mike asks Ellen and her young son to move in with him but Mike finds it hard to
rid himself of his philandering ways, putting a strain to their relationship. Prideful and
hurt, Ellen leaves him but it took a great force of nature to unite them; the San
Francisco earthquake.
Starring: Maggie Cheung, Leon Lai |
Review by : Michelle Tan
Click here for pictures
This
movie has all the 'trappings' of a superb film; with leading stars Leon Lai and Maggie
Cheung, and set against the backdrop of beautiful San Francisco. However the fault here
lies in the script.
What we have here is a lack-luster
attempt of a love story; man-meets-woman-and-they-shack-up-and-fall-in-love. That's the
plot but the script is too 'loose' and has too many holes, taking a lot of things for
granted and not fine-tuning the smaller but essential details.
Maggie Cheung is Ellen, a cab driver
in San Francisco and single-handedly raising a young son. She went to a pub to pick up a
friend who was drowning her sorrows where she became acquainted with Mike. Driving home,
she saw Mike pissing on the wall. Now look here, she hardly knows the fella and he's all
drunk and just pissed in the public, but instead of driving off, no, she had to stop and
chat up with him. How stupid can that be? Well, he got in the cab and they both proceeded
to have sex in the back seat of the cab!
The next morning, she drove him to
work and charged him for the fare too! The irony of it! Is that it? No, talk about a
'gatal' woman. She went back to the same pub hoping to see Mike again, and they both ended
up at his place.
We don't really get to see the love
scenes, but well, I must compliment the censorship fellas for their nimble fingers at
snipping the scenes quite unobstructively, we only get a couple of one to two seconds of
blank screen (that would depict the censored snippets). We merely see the 'morning-after'
effects, naked bodies under a blanker and strewn clothes on the floor.
After two one-night-stands, Mike
actually brings Ellen and introduces her to his surrogate father cum landlord, Robert. And
Robert tells her that Mike has feelings for her because she is the first woman he brought
home for dinner. Huumph, get real!
And after the third nights together,
he asks her to move in with him. What is this? One, two, buckle your show. Three, four,
shut the door. One, two, have dinner with my dad. Three, move in with me?
The casual and loving banter between
Ellen and her ten-year old son Scott depicts a healthy -mother-son relationship. A point
in contention here is that Ellen doesn't seem to worry about her son whenever she shacks
up with Mike. Small detail, but essential enough an element that is overlooked in the
script. And the next morning back home, dear son would ask where mommy dearest was the
night before.
And when Ellen moves in with Mike, Scott stays behind because
Ellen wants to test the waters first, with whom Scott stays with is not mentioned…and
ph-leeze, leaving her son behind to shack up with lover boy? For lack of originality,
there's a scene taken from 'The Bachelor', towards the end where Ellen was 'chased'
through the streets of San Francisco.
What I am disappointed (and very slightly appalled - no, I am not
a self-professed guardian of morality) is how 'cheap' and 'loose' the characters are. One
night stands and sex in the cab? Perhaps I am biased here because it's a Cantonese movie,
as this is no big deal in American movies. But looking beyond that, the characters are so
one-dimensional, shallow and under-developed. What do they have in common anyway, other
than sex? Mike, by the way, is a top notch rich computer entrepreneur who owns his own
company. And Ellen, well, Ellen just wants to 'take care of his house and cook him a nice
dinner'.
Pretty disappointing for seasoned stars Maggie Cheung and Leon
Lai. Leon Lai looks good, as always, but kudos to Maggie Cheung for the confidence of
looking plain in this role. Hardly any make-up on, garbed cab-driver clothes complete with
leather gloves and all. Also how unfortunate that the scenic beauty of San Francisco was
hardly exploited at all.
The only crowd-puller here would be the stars. |
  
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