Things We Do

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Two very varied feature films opened recently, the first two parts of a planned trilogy on love by acclaimed indie filmmaker James Lee. James has had a productive career, to date, and critical analysis of his work has often focused on stylistic comparisons with Taiwanese New Wave stalwarts like Tsai Ming-Liang (who, incidentally, also has a feature opening in Malaysia). Those assessments are perhaps a little too easy, and ignore the emerging auteur nature of James's work; with "Before We Fall In Love Again", the first of his new films, James shows a sense of style that is his own.

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This happened last week when I was at the press screening of THINGS WE DO WHEN WE FALL IN LOVE:

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Love hardly needs further dissecting, one would think. If not, certainly a trilogy of films dedicated to its examination would be overkill. But no one told that to James Lee, because the ties that bind lovers together have never been more intricate than when examined through the lens of arguably Malaysia's most celebrated indie filmmaker. After his film noir Before We Fall in Love Again, he turns to cinema verite, finding a less stylised but more organic platform for his second film inspired from Harold Pinter's Betrayal, Things We Do When We Fall in Love.

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