SYNOPSIS:
Jimmy
is a mild mannered advertising executive in his twenties.
While smoking in an alley packed with booming loudmouth co-workers
and sharing explicit gossips and horror stories, he befriends
a misfit cosmetics salesgirl Cherie who also likes to light
up. An awkward romance soon blossoms amidst the anxiety of
their nicotine rush. As they become more attached to each
other, they also find themselves moving farther away from
their regular hot pot pack into their own private alley, where
their conversations suggest more emotional depths, covering
the collision of reality and delightfully trivial matters
of the bizarre people around them.
MOVIE REVIEW:
This reviewer must admit that he didn’t think much of Pang Ho-Cheung’s romantic comedy “Love in a Puff” when he first saw it in cinemas. It was funny in parts yes, but it seemed fluffy and insignificant compared to Pang’s other efforts. Having watched it a second time on DVD however, I must admit that I absolutely fell in love with it, and finally recognised what other reviewers who bestowed all those accolades that you see on the cover were enjoying.
Pang’s film is built on Hong Kong’s indoor anti-smoking ban, which came into effect in 2007, and forced smokers to step out of the comfort of their offices and out into back alleys where they would congregate in groups around a dustbin cum ashtray. The phenomenon is referred more affectionately in the Hong Kong vernacular as “hot potting” and it is within this group of smoking buddies that gossip, horror stories and crude jokes are often traded.
Much time in the film is spent around one particular group, including Shawn Yue’s advertising exec Jimmy, Miriam Yeung’s cosmetics salesgirl Cherie, Cheung Tat Ming’s hotel bellboy and Jimmy’s other advertising colleagues (Jo Koo and Roy Szeto). These conversations are though full of profanities, utterly witty and amusing and chock-full of Cantonese euphemisms and slang that can only be appreciated in its complete glory if you watch it in the film’s original language.
They hit it off the first day that they meet, and on the walk back to their workplace, exchange numbers and begin SMS-ing each other. That very night, they meet up with each other again, Jimmy accompanying Cherie to her friend’s costumed birthday party in a KTV joint. More smokes, more talk and a late-night walk along the streets later, it’s clear that Jimmy and Cherie have something going on.
What that is isn’t exactly clear- do they like each other as friends or do they have feelings for each other that go beyond friendship? “Love in a Puff” unfolds over seven days beginning from the day they first meet and shows how they slowly figure out what their feelings. Cherie takes one step forward, Jimmy pulls back, Cherie withdraws in uncertainty and the dance repeats itself- hey dating has always been a guessing game, where each party tries to figure out what he/she feels and what the other one feels.
Pang beautifully captures that ambiguity in his film- Jimmy and Cherie trying to keep a facade of casualness but somehow aware that there’s more to their friendship than what they are openly admitting to each other. He lets their relationship unfold naturally, never rushing it towards some obligatory happy ending while keeping his audience guessing how their friendship will develop.
Thanks to Pang’s and co-writer Heiward Mak’s spot on observations of the modern-day dating rituals of young adults, there is also a contemporary and wholly realistic feel to the film. From time to time, Pang also inserts snippets of interviews with the various characters about smoking, dating and other social mores. While they may not add to the story per se, the dialogue is once again spot-on hilarious and makes the film an even more winsome experience.
Of course, a film like this needs great chemistry between its leads and Shawn Yue and Miriam Yeung do indeed have that spark. With each smile, gait and tone of voice, Shawn and Miriam convey superbly Jimmy and Cherie’s reservations and emotions. They make their characters easily relatable for the everyday twenty-something year-olds they are meant to represent.
And so it is with this easy charm and realistic feel that Pang makes his latest romantic comedy a sheer delight, exploring the vagaries of falling in love especially during the first few days of getting to know someone you think you are romantically interested in and someone you think may be romantically interested in you too. Yes, it does make things a little more hazy and less clear-cut than some would prefer in their romcoms, but this is an artfully and tastefully done slice of life romcom that is likely to grow on you with each subsequent viewing. I know it certainly did for me.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Just the trailer and a photo gallery.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Picture looks clean and sharp, except for the interview montages which are made to look raw and slightly grainy. This Code 3 DVD only comes in its Mandarin track, and those who understand Cantonese would do well to get a foreign edition that comes with the film’s original language to enjoy the profanity-laden dialogue in all its glory.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 23 July 2010
|
