Review: Calmi Cuori Appassionati (Between Calm and Passion) is a rich and powerful look at the gentleness of love. There had been a few reviews that believed this film wasn’t as elegant as I thought it was. I believe I have figured out why they felt the way they did. Most, and I mean most, will walk away from this film with a longing for a bit more. A bit more from the story, a bit more from the drama, and a bit more from the characters. What you will have to understand however, is exactly what the title means and what you are to expect.

Calm, a word that goes hand in hand with words like serene, easiness, and subtlety. The story of Calmi Cuori Appassionati lies deep within the thoughts of its understated characters. With Florence, Italy as the story’s romantic backdrop, we first meet the quiet and troubled Junsei Agata, played by the popular Japanese idol Yutaka Takenouchi. Despite having a great future ahead of him and a loving girlfriend, Junsei can’t seem to let go of his shaky past. His beautiful ex-girlfriend Aoi, played by the lovely Kelly Chen, was everything in his life, but due to a complicated misunderstanding, their wonderful love life came to an abrupt end. This is in essence the plot for what I believe is one of the most underrated dramas to come out of Asia.

Using a few, yet well-crafted flashback scenes of Junsei’s days with Aoi in Japan, the viewers are eased slowly into the film. The way the couples’ relationship begins is so much like other films. Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl. But what makes it so great is the way the film works in the “calm” and understated feel. The pure innocence of the couple is magical and insanely nostalgic. Instead of pulling and jerking on the viewers’ emotions, the film sort of guides and draws it out of you. We’ll begin to think as far back as our first puppy love when we first felt a slight “tingle” inside, but didn’t quite know what it was.

Then the magic ends. Junsei and Aoi move on with their lives. Junsei moves away to Italy where his love for historical arts can flourish. Aoi is now dating a rich business man named Michael, played by the ever-so “talked” about Michael Wong. Aoi’s relationship with Michael is beautiful and believable . . . on the surface. Aoi, herself, is torn between trying to keep a perfectly good relationship with Michael or following what her heart is telling her. Passion is a word that touches on our feelings and emotions. We are driven by it and we desire because of it. Aoi is clearly smothering her passion and love for Junsei by pushing her mind to believe she is in love with Michael. Of course for a relationship to work, the love has to go both ways and Michael feels like there’s a humongous gap between them despite their closeness.

It seems to me like romantic dramas from Asia have another insight to them. The characters are superficially beautiful, but the depth and meaning that they carry are uncanny. Calmi Cuori is exactly this. At first sight, the film is so beautiful and exquisite that the viewers become awe struck. However, the film’s sublime imagery is nothing without its passion driven characters. Both Takenouchi and Chen stay within context of their characters, but because the characters are brimming with residual emotions, there are times when they break out of the calmness of the character and display their passion filled interior. Calmi Cuori Appassionati’s success is because of its beautiful locations and its surprising cast of characters.