Nian ni ru xi

James Lee is one of the productive young Malaysian film makers who is at present taking the international festival world by storm. Apart from directing, he and colleagues such as Tan Chui Mui, Ho Yuhang and Amir Mohammad are also active as each other's producers or editors. Their productivity is not just a sign of their creativity, but also of their dynamism. And they manage to produce very cheaply.
Lee, a steady, realistic and not unfunny minimalist, based the largely black & white Before We Fall in Love Again - his fifth feature - loosely on Harold Pinter's famous play Betrayal. In this charming and elegantly written variation on Jules et Jim, we get to know the object of love only in flashbacks from the men's memories. We see how Chang is convinced by his boss to stop working now his wife Ling Yue has been missing for a month. Chang has no idea what happened to her, but decides to buy a ticket to Prague - her dream destination. The evening before his departure, he receives a visit from Tong, who says he is Chang's wife's lover, but is also looking for her. Slightly ill at ease, yet stuck with each other, the men set off in search together. With surprising results. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)