Chi Ming yu Chun Giu

Hong Kong 2010, 104 min.

Cantonese with English and Czech subtitles

director: Edmond Pang Ho-Cheung

starring: Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah, Shawn Yue Man-Lok, Jo Kuk Cho-Lam, Vincent Kok Tak-Chiu, Roy Szeto Wai-Cheuk

distributor: Media Asia

Hong Kong’s ban on smoking in public places inspired Pang Ho-Cheung to make an original romantic comedy that radiates the city’s unique local atmosphere. Smoking places in narrow side streets make for an ideal meeting place and thus begins the amusingly complicated relationship of Jimmy and Cherie. The unexpected box-office hit captivates the audience with its lightness and charm, but also by approaching the topic of love maturely, without artificial embellishing or losing perspective, but at the same time maintains just the right amount of romanticism. The director has proven his touch for astute depictions of various aspects of life in Hong Kong, ranging from inconspicuous daily details to the incorporation of several real elements connected to the smoking ban.