Love Lifting

A pretty typical Yau romance. From afar, it looks like a very straightforward genre film, but it comes with a twist that turns the whole film upside down. At least, for a short while, after which it merrily continues down its predestined genre path. Not sure if that structure is very effective or sensible, but it sure adds a bunch of intrigue to an otherwise rather basic film.

Li Li is a talented weight lifter, but her sports career takes a big tumble when she is diagnosed with diabetes. She meets Shek, a divorced bar owner, and the two hook up right away. Shek sees Li Li still pines for the time she excelled doing what she loved, so he devises a plan to get her back into the weight lifting game.

Love Lifting is a solid piece of feel-good fluff. Whatever troubles are thrown at the characters are solved pretty much that very same scene, with Yau focusing hard on the romcom bits. The twist halfway through is a pretty big upset, but not one that carries through until the end. I was pretty baffled by this film, but I'm still not sure if it was for all the right reasons.