Movie Review: Love Lifting/高舉‧愛

Herman Yau is one of my favorite Hong Kong directors.

His versatility is as impressive as his body of work; he can do comedy, social commentary, and extreme violence.

He’s one of a very few directors whose work I will watch simply because it’s his work.

He can manage to make a movie better than it should be, and usually does.

That’s certainly the case with Love Lifting/高舉‧愛 .

If I told you there was a movie where Elanne Kong plays a female weightlifter and her love interest is Chapman To, and it’s really enjoyable, you’d probably think I was insane.

Maybe I am.

But I still really enjoyed **Love Lifting/高舉‧愛 , flaws and all.**

The timeline jumps around a couple times without clearly letting you know, but it’s no big deal.

You don’t cure diabetes. But if Barbara Wong can cure Alzheimer’s, then Herman Yau can cure diabetes no problem.

And Barbara Wong can kiss my ass.

Unlike me, Li Li is the poster child for smiling and making the best of her situation.

She was a promising weightlifter whose career was ended because she’s diabetic. She works doing any kind of job where she can use her still-impressive strength.

In fact, people call her Strong Girl.

She meets Chapman To, a former bar owner down on his luck. They slowly form a relationship, and a marriage, and a family. But Li Li can’t quite forget her dream to be someone special.

***Love Lifting/高舉‧愛*  shouldn’t be as good as it is. It’s not perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better than a lot of movies I’ve seen lately.**

I really appreciate that it’s a story about regular people, doing (mostly) regular things.

I appreciated watching Chapman To act as a character rather than being Chapman To.

He can act well. He’s just not called on to do it very often.

Elanne Kong is really impressive as the weight lifter. I’d never have thought she could be this good. She is.

I’m not saying  Love Lifting/高舉‧愛 is a great movie.

But it’s a damned good one.

It’s hard for me to explain (or understand), but Herman Yau creates a world that’s both real and ideal.

The movie naturally has some cliches, but it also has some surprises.

It might manipulate the viewer at times, but the rest of the film has built up enough good will that you can forgive it.

I think the nicest thing I can say about this movie is that it deserves better than to have someone like me talk about it.

But since I do have to talk about it, let me then say that this movie kicks Barbara Wong’s movies in the ass with a steel-toed boot.

How’s that?

I really liked this movie, and I would recommend it.