Turn Left Turn Right

We were required to watch this movie, “Turn Left, Turn Right”. It’s about a man and a woman, meeting again after 13 years. You’d think that this is your traditional romantic movie, but it’s not. Turn Left, Turn Right would make you think about people being destined to each other. As how the movie put it, coincidence may sometimes not yet be ready to turn into fate. It would happen when the universe is ready for you to see each other again. Indeed, timing is everything.

 

 

Turn Left Turn Right is a sweet little movie based on the charming illustrated love story 'A Chance of Sunshine' by renowned Taiwanese author/artist, Jimmy Liao. The story, set in Taipei, revolves around John Liu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), an aspiring violinist who is flocked by women like bees to honey because of his handsome face. However, what he really wants is to meet someone special who appreciates his violin performance. Eve Choi (Gigi Leung) is a professional translator whose true passion is translating love poems, but for work she is stuck in translating cheesy novels and cheap thrillers which make her feel tense and frightened. Like millions living in a large city, John and Eve lead lives of solitude. Living in different units of the same apartment building and separated by one thin wall, the two have brushed shoulders in crowd hundreds times, but somehow their paths never really cross.

          But as the movie tagline says, even two parallel lines will meet one day!

 

          So one day at a fountain in the park, they finally bump into each other... and it's love at first sight! Just like a pair of long-lost lovers, John and Eve spend a beautiful afternoon together. Unfortunately, a sudden shower cuts the encounter short. They exchange phone numbers and quickly run home. Yet fate plays a cruel joke on them, the rain has soaked through their precious scrap of paper and the phone numbers are hopelessly smudged. You will be in constant anticipation as to whether the couple will ever be reunited as you watched them having one missed encounter after another, while meddling acquaintances and pure bad luck conspire to keep the would-be-lovers apart.

The movie is not perfect, but I for one, love the use of colours in this movie. I love the opening scene which showed a mob of people with a barrage of black umbrellas, save a green one held by John and a red one by Eve. I also adore Eve's outfits, a mish mash of colours from the sweaters to the scarves and the skirts she wears.

 

Love at First Sight by Wislawa Szymborska -source: Hugo Schwyzer

They’re both convinced that a sudden passion joined them.
Such certainty is beautiful, but uncertainty is more beautiful still.

Since they’d never met before, they’re sure
that there’d been nothing between them.
But what’s the word from the streets, staircases, hallways -
perhaps they’ve passed by each other a million times?

I want to ask them if they don’t remember -
a moment face to face in some revolving door?
perhaps a “sorry” muttered in a crowd?
a curt “wrong number” caught in the receiver?
but I know the answer.
No, they don’t remember.

They’d be amazed to hear
that Chance has been toying with them now for years.

Not quite ready yet
to become their Destiny,
it pushed them close, drove them apart,
it barred their path,
stifling a laugh, and then leaped aside.

There were signs and signals,
even if they couldn’t read them yet.
Perhaps three years ago or just last Tuesday

a certain leaf fluttered
from one shoulder to another?
Something was dropped and then picked up.
Who knows, maybe the ball that vanished into childhood’s thicket?

There were doorknobs and doorbells
where one touch had covered another beforehand.

Suitcases checked and standing side by side.
One night, perhaps, the same dream grown hazy by morning.

Every beginning is only a sequel, after all,
and the book of events is always open halfway through ♥