Event

DisOrient 2008: 'The Trouble With Romance'

Director Gene Rhee's (THE QUEST FOR LENGTH) newest film is a provocative, sexy and insightful exploration of relationships between men and women and why we all still yearn for love despite all the trouble that it brings. This comedy peeks into the lives of four very different couples and their struggles with finding happiness.

Each story follows the inhabitants of different rooms in one hotel in Los Angeles on the same evening. In the bathroom, a young woman looking for closure has an emotional conversation with her hallucination of an ex-lover, all while her new boyfriend waits behind the door. Down the hall, a husband and wife attempt to spice up their sex life, and a young man has his first encounter with a call girl. The heart of the film finds Roger Fan (BETTER LUCK TOMORROW, FINISHING THE GAME) as a bumbling boyfriend who commits the ultimate faux-pas by inviting his stoner buddies to celebrate with him and his girlfriend Stephanie (Emily Liu) on their special night. Fed up with his immaturity and apparent lack of commitment, she dumps him before he can say a word. Can he still win her back?

With crisp pacing and solid performances, Rhee's feature debut is heart-breaking in its sincerity of emotion. Rhee and his co-writers smartly complicate their initial set-ups with fresh twists and turns, each of which reveal more and more about the nature of love, and the ever-changing desires of the heart.

http://www.myspace.com/thetroublewithromance

Adapted from Christopher Au, SFIAAFF