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After spenging years in Portugal, Guerra is called back to Macao, the
erstwhile Portoguese colony that had only recently been returned to
mainland China, by Candy, an old friend who claims she's in serious
trouble after her boyfriend was shot dead (for real) during a harmless
wargame. She fears she's next ... When Guerra arrives in Macao, he fails
to get in touch with Candy, and while he roams the city trying to pick up
her trail, she always seems to be at least one step ahead - intentionally
or not? Finally, he receives a letter from her - that informs him though
that she might probably be dead by the time he reads it (and she is, as he
later finds out), but it also tells him where to find an item those who
were after her are really after. But picking up this item leaves him in
harm's way ... In essence, The Last Time I Saw Macao is
a loveletter to Macao, where one of the directors spent his childhood -
and that in itself isn't a bad thing, as Macao is a fascinating city, and
the film manages to mix scenic tourist hotspots with scenes from actual
city life, views of the city's back alleys and the like. However, in
all, The Last Time I Saw Macao is not a very good movie, basically
because very much like the masterful Suzhou
River, it is a movie pretty much without actors, that focuses on
the city it's filmed in more than on the actual action that's only
narrated off-screen - yet other than Suzhou
River, The Last Time I Saw Macao lacks a unique style (or
any particular style at all), it seems to be little more than a sequence
of quite ok shots of the city with little actual aesthetic ambitions.
Also, the story of this film eventually seems to lose itself, and tries a
little too hard to evoke a film noir feel that's not at all reflected in
the images. To put it quite bluntly: A disappointment!
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find The Last Time I Saw Macao at adultvideouniverse.com
