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Fly Me To Polaris (1999)

Do you know how hard it is to review this film without spoiling it for you? Maybe this shows how bad of a reviewer I am, but I have never found it so hard reviewing a film without ruining the readers own experience of it. If you can handle small spoilers, just read on. If not, look out for the spoiler signs I have put into this review and where they end. The problem is that after the first few minutes of the film, the story might spoil your own experience of it when reading about them here. However, the spoilers in this review aren't for the end of the film.

Onion (Richie Ren) is blind-mute and therefore he lives in a home for retarded people. They give him his own living room, because he works over there as well.

Autumnn (Cecilia Cheung) is a nurse in this asylum and she gets along with Onion very well. She cuts his hair every once in a while and at night they sit together outside waiting for meteoroids floating over the dark sky. They spend a lot of time together and they have no problems to communicate with each other. Onion either write with his finger on Autumn's hand, or he just articulates with his hands.

*** Spoilers Ahead *** Spoilers Ahead ***

Everything goes well and the two are just about to fall in love with each other, when Onion gets run over by a car and dies. He wakes up in Polaris (Heaven) and what a coincidence he is the 60 billionsth visitor to Polaris, since every 10 billionsth is granted a wish. Of course Onion wishes to go back to earth to stay with his love. However, he is only granted a period of five days before he must return to Polaris and to other people, he will appear as another person since Onion's body is buried on the graveyard and another body must be 'borrowed'. Now he is also able to talk again and his sight is back to normal as well. However, there is another condition for returning back to earth. He mustn't tell anybody he is Onion. Even if he would want to, it would not be possible to him.

Now his only problem is to convince the mourning Autumn that he is Onion. This can be a very hard task, especially if you consider that he has only 5 days and can not tell the fact to anybody, otherwise he would suffer an epileptic seizure.

*** End Of Spoilers *** End Of Spoilers *** End Of Spoilers ***

The film is narrated by Onion and although it is Cantonese he talks, I felt that from reading the subtitles and listening to the tone he narrates the story in, he is a very enjoyable narrator to listen to.

Apart from the two main characters, there are not a lot of other characters in the film. We have 4 further characters, one of which is essential for the story to work and another one that provides the film with a nice sub plot.

The story essential character is Dr. Woo, who is also after Autumn, but by no means unpolite or annoying as are most of the lover's rivals in such films. Although not as good looking as Onion, he is a regular man with the same emotions as everybody else.
The character that provides the subplot is played by none other than Eric Tsang and although you might find him annoying in his role in the 'Lucky Stars'-films, he does a good serious job in "Fly Me To Polaris". It wasn't until recently, that I found out that this guy could handle roles without being annoying.

The musical score of the film is just wonderful. Piano solos, songs with lyrics or the ever so sad violin all do their job well. When I talk about music, I must tell you what effect it has. It actually is the combination of the skilled actors and the great music. Many films have made the one or the other tear run down my cheek. This film however is the first one since a very long time, that made me run out of breath. I am not over exaggerating. The last time I remember to have been in such a state due to a film, was because of Perfect World with Kevin Costner, which was in 1993. Gosh! 10 years ago!?

As soon as the film started, I knew it had to be something special. I don't know what it was, but don't you have this feeling sometimes? Because the first of my tears appeared in the beginning of the film. Don't get me wrong. This film is not sad throughout its whole running time. There are funny parts as well. The beginning just brought up such emotions in me, because it is so beautifully made. The acting, the music and the cinematogrphy are all just amazing and storywise you feel that Onion's relationship to Autumn is real and not just acted.

I especially like the way Richie Ren plays the part of the blind Onion. You will feel so sorry for him, but happy at the same time as well. And watch out for Cecilia Cheung's acting abilities. Her crying is just so real.

The plot itself has been done very often all over the world before, but this film delivers it a bit different in my opinion. It is not as comedic as 'Switch' with Goldie Hawn, nor is the plot as foreseeable (except one tiny scene).

I was surprised to find out that Jingle Ma was the director of the film. Having watched his Tokyo Raiders, I was totally blown away by his ability to shoot such different movies. He successfully plays with our emotions by providing us with a happy-sad drama. When you watch it, watch it alone or with your loved soulmate and keep a pack of handkerchiefs on the side, unless your heart is made of stone. You'll need it. Why alone or only with your soulmate? Because it should be easier for you to let your emotions flow. I'm happy that I didn't get my friends over to watch the film...! He he he!

Written on April 27th 2003

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