Fruit Is Swelling (1993)

Fruit Is Swelling: Directed by Roman Cheung. With Shui-Wah Fok, Loletta Lee, Kai-Chung Mak, Tom Poon. What was supposed to be summer school in England becomes an adventurous, exotic and romantic journey for a beautiful teenage girl.

“Crazy Love is an interesting work of film, to say the least. I donu0026#39;t necessarily agree, however, with it being labeled as a romantic comedy. I think the label of erotic comedy would serve this film better as a descriptor. That said, however, itu0026#39;s not so cut and dry at the same time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe opening sequence of shots of our lead are a bit misleading. While there are numerous situations in this film involving nudity or some kind of erotic imagery, with one exception, Crazy love does not really follow through with the tone it initially sets. The eroticism in OK overall. Maybe a bit surprising in some cases, especially in the way itu0026#39;s utilized, but itu0026#39;s nothing really to write home about at the end of the day.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe humor in this film is dated. This is a film from 1993, and this film makes casual, explicit references to sexual assault as humor, for example, which is definitely not something most films would try to do now. So many of the jokes in this film are centered around that or gay panic that, unless you find those types of jokes humorous, a good portion of the comedy present in this film will be lost to you. I only laughed a couple times watching this, one was a joke in the beginning made by the Buddhist Priest which, although a bit predictable, I found funny because the application of Buddhist thought in the context of an erotic comedy was something I found a bit clever. The other time I laughed was when the main character has hot pot with the artist/writer and she keeps making the food spicier and he canu0026#39;t handle it. That was a genuinely funny moment and I wish there was more of something like that in this film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe acting is serviceable. There is one scene, however, where I felt the acting was so bad that I was unsure if it was supposed to be a joke or not. Thereu0026#39;s a scene early on in the film where this couple is saying goodbye as the girl is getting ready to leave for the UK at the airport. This scene is acted in such an over-dramatic way, yet the visuals donu0026#39;t seem to suggest either seriousness or otherwise. I laughed at it but Iu0026#39;m still not sure what to make of that scene and those performances. For the most part, however, the acting is fine, if a little over the top in a lot of spots to heighten the comedy to, sometimes, cartoonish levels.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe writing is iffy. Characters seem to come and go based on plot convenience more than anything else. There are also moments where the main character and the artist get into multiple arguments that are frustrating because what they are saying and doing seems to sacrifice realism in favor of dragging the conflict out despite us all knowing whatu0026#39;s going to happen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn the technical side of things, I couldnu0026#39;t help but notice that there were a lot of strange audio issues. This is mostly in the soundtrack where the beat will artificially palpitate as if someone made a mistake and cut it off too soon. This happens consistently and I found it to be a little distracting. The soundtrack is fine, albeit a little minimal with only a handful of music tracks seemingly ripped out of the late 1980s.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, Crazy Love is largely unremarkable. Itu0026#39;s not bad but itu0026#39;s not good either. There doesnu0026#39;t seem to be anything particularly unique about this film in what it has to offer. If your standard for eroticism is the 50 Shades films, then maybe this might be a step up in that camp with just how much more it exists in this film and, in some instances, how casually itu0026#39;s sometimes presented. It definitely does not feel like the kind of film that would be produced in the US. I believe that the kind of tone this film presents considering what it is, is probably something that can only be produced by a film industry in its part of the world. That said, itu0026#39;s nothing special and nobodyu0026#39;s life is more or less enriched after seeing it.”