Chi Ming yi Chun Kiu

Men and Women has a lot of story, but most of them are normal. The deeper truth is the most normal story has an exciting part in your heart. This movie moves you by show you the misty mood of ambiguity. It's an enjoyment of inner world.

Love in a Puff has a lot about it that I really enjoy. For starters, it was just the right amount of quirky. It was unique without needing to be obnoxious. There were a lot of moments that were heartwarming and fun to witness as the two main characters grew more infatuated with one another. I also enjoyed how the film portrayed love as a very nuanced emotion. It wasn't sappy, in fact it was quite realistic in portraying how far from perfect love, or what we think of as love, can be. The film didn't try to rush a love story, neatly packaged in 1 hour and 44 minutes. Instead, it simply introduces us to the potential beginnings of a partnership. Miriam Chin Wah Yeung gave an incredibly endearing performance. Her facial expressions in particular caused her to stand out among the rest of the cast. I went into this movie not knowing anything about it. Within the first few minutes, I was immediately drawn to her character. This was before I knew she was one of the main characters. She didn't even have very many lines in the beginning, but her expressions really drew me in and made me want to know more about her.

That being said, there was a lot about the movie that I did not enjoy. They tried to mix an interview-style documentary in with the rest of the film not being done in documentary style. This was never explained. We never find out who the interviewers are, why they're interviewing our characters, and how they were supposed to tie into the story. It seemed like a cheap way to reveal the characters backstories and opinions. An interesting premise, but ultimately I feel it fell short. Another thing I wasn't fond of was how unnecessarily mean our main duo could be. There is a scene where Jimmy is unabashedly rude as he describes one of Cherie's friends as an ugly toad. Instead of sticking up for her friend, Cherie just holds back laughter. This scene really didn't do anything to further the plot. It was just cruel. Even as the poor girl cries from being stood up on a date, Jimmy openly laughs at her and Cherie continues to not stick up for her supposed friend. These aren't the type of characters I like to root for, personally.

So really, I'm not sure how I feel about this film. There was a lot that was done right, and some truly charming moments. But also some not-so-charming moments as well.

I don't smoke, but I will tell you that from time to time my admiration of the smokers is that camaraderie formed given the gathering of like-minded (erm, addicted?) folks within Singapore's context of the yellow box, where they are permitted to light up and puff to their hearts' content in public (now with even stricter regulations it must be 5m away from an building entrance). It's an "us against the world", but that doesn't faze them at all. In need of a light? Well, someone at the box will gladly assist you. Need another stick but have smoked your last? Somebody else can offer you one. For free. And not to mention the many talk-cock-sing-song sessions that occur, where the yellow box has evolved into a bona fide grapevine for news, jokes and gossips to be traded. This yellow box bonding is much envied.

But of course that isn't reason enough to convert me, but it sure is reason enough for Hong Kong director Pang Ho-cheung to weave a romantic comedy based on this premise, and he does so with much aplomb in the opening scene being a direct result, that it just grabs you and holds your attention all the way until the end, with an astute sense and insightful capture of the essence and psyche of the modern day dating game. Being a young (though established) director, he combines the in-thing of today's technology, with SMS and doctored Facebook profile pictures into a commentary of sorts about the games people play when looking for love.

Hong Kong too has similar strict regulations in the areas where one can smoke, and these are all explained in the film. Ho uses them as a social background to weave the story of two characters - the English title is nowhere remotely close to the Chinese one, which is "Jimmy and Cherie", named after the two characters played by Shawn Yue and Miriam Yeung, in a sort of Romeo and Juliet fashion and the likes. They meet at one of the smoking areas where they trade stories with folks from other parts of the neighbourhood, and soon become fast friends, hitting it off almost instantaneously after cosmetics salesgirl Cherie learns of the unfortunate infidelity of ad executive Jimmy's (soon to be ex) girlfriend, which provides enormous punctuations of laughter since she (and others not supposed to be in the loop) are sworn to secrecy.

Despite their age gap (in real life as well) which is made explicitly known in the narrative, both Shawn and Miriam (last seen on screen some 3 years ago with Hooked on You, another Hong Kong romantic comedy I dig) share a lovable, natural chemistry which is hallmark of any great romance, despite roadblocks placed in their way like current relationships gone sour, and the questioning of the What If when someone else who does seem more like one's soulmate comes along. Unravelling itself over seven consecutive days, we follow these two wonderfully crafted characters as they hit it off, and quietly root for them to come together, though it's no mean feat, almost reminiscent of anyone's experience in a relationship when the beginning phase seems pretty awesome, until expectations start settling in and the mind games start to creep in.

The jokes here are laugh a minute when the director gets his story to deliver punchline after punchline which worked almost all the time, and shows his unique knack at pace and knowing what works. Included are some documentary-reel like clips containing faux pas interviews with the characters which while a tangent from the main narrative, contains plenty of rip-roaring revelations that continue all the way until during the end credits (which contains those which don't exactly fit into the main narrative proper). The main theme from the soundtrack is also beautiful to listen to, and becomes instant earworm.

This is another winner from Pang Ho-cheung, and is definitely highly recommended. I think it'll make its way to Singapore despite the focus on the smokes (with some redeeming factors), but surely, this is one film that will lose out tremendously if dubbed in Mandarin, since the colourful, fast-and-furiously delivered-only-in-Cantonese swear phrases will lose their shine (the audience was just going nuts!). Oh and thanks to this film, I will also want to try out the dry-ice toilet bowl effect, nothing like taking a heavenly dump!

It's not like we're in a hurry. n 55IW i, the rich atmosphere of life in Hong Kong, the unique humor, it makes people laugh, and suddenly there's a line that says, my heart is racing, my heart is happy, my heart is perfect, i don't like it

A light hearted and carefree Rom-Com of the year...

Director Pang Ho Cheung rarely disappoints and his latest venture in Love in a Puff is suitably far less self-indulgence and more carefree and fun to watch. Together with the witty and interesting dialogue co-written by last year High Noon's Heiward Mak, Pang paces the film in almost real time fashion. From the sense of a throw-back to Woody Allen's classic Annie Hall by breaking the third wall with characters talking about love, life, fate and smoking to the real time technique similar to the elegantly viewed Before Sunrise. Pang has created a little masterpiece, slightly underrated, easy to go under the radar, but simply a movie for film lovers to embrace.

Love in a Puff is the kind of film that isn't overtly directed, but rather the actors are allowed space to express themselves in real-time effect. Meeting people at a random ash-can in the back alleyway of Hong Kong is easily believable. After all, for all you smokers out there, how easy is it to share a light or two with a complete stranger with the possibility of striking up a laugh or two? The answer is yes. Pang plays with these premises and goes to the extreme in depicting smokers and constantly smoking. Smoking is what connected them in the first place and former queen of comedy, Miriam Yeung glows in her role as a matured yet simple girl torn between the end of a current relationship and the hope of beginning a new one. Likewise, Shawn Yue gives a career progressing performance as her younger love interest. Despite their best efforts on screen, the duo just somehow never clicks. While the dialogue and interaction between the two is more than interesting, the only evident problem is the lack of chemistry between the two leads. Surely their age difference was taken into account during the movie, but there is something that just stops the duo from kicking in the romantic sparkles. Good friends – yes, but lovers – a definite no-no.

All in all, Love in a Puff might just feel like a lesser Pang Ho Cheung's effort, but in fact it is exactly that carefree and fun feeling which makes this film better than it should be. It is also a return to the trashy, witty, light hearted fun not seen since his earlier works. It might not mean much, but Love in a Puff is easily the most enjoyable and carefree and light hearted Rom-Com of the year...(Neo 2010)

I rate it 8/10

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