Love Conquers All (2006)

Tan Chui Mui's debut feature, Love Conquers All, is a strange affair. Recalling a romantic drama co-directed by Rivette and Hong Sang-soo, it is a quiet work that carefully wades into dark depths, and hints at worlds bubbling up beneath our feet. Ah-Ping is a young woman who arrives in Kuala Lampur to spend a few weeks with her sisters. Not long after arriving, she meets John, who despite her rejection, continues to try and court her, and a whirlwind romance ensues. But John is an odd guy who may be involved in some dirty dealings, and who may have some unsavory designs for his new lover. Tan Chui Mui is one of the freshest voices to arrive on the international cinema scene. Her style is at once a kind of documentary realism, but it also has the quality of an urban fantasy. She has a keen eye for the magic lurking underneath mundane surfaces and suburban localities. If there is one thing that stands out about Love Conquers All, it is how ordinary the settings are, and how ordinary the compositions are, but also how this kind of extraordinary feeling radiates from them. Mui has cited Hong and Fassbinder as influences, but it is really the spirit of Rivette that comes through here, especially in the second half of the film in which the dialogue becomes sparser, and the images begin to hint at something larger, even more sinister, but also still somewhat lovely. Love Conquers All really is one of those films where what is not said is more important than what is said, and the spaces between the images take on a life of their own. However, it does feel somewhat underdeveloped, especially in the last ten minutes where it becomes incredibly sparse, to a point where it goes beyond just an artistic reasoning. Mui herself has admitted that she prefers making shorts, and only makes features because she feels she has to, and that probably explains why there is a part of this that never fully coalesces. But there is no doubt that she is a voice to watch out for in the future. I am looking forward to seeing some of her shorts, as well as her second feature, Year Without a Summer, which sadly, has not been released on DVD yet. Where she goes next is bound to be exciting.