LOVE IN A PUFF 志明與春嬌 Film Preview. Can LOVE blossom in an Alleyway?

PRESS PREVIEW

Excuse me, this reviewer does not smoke.

Maybe he puffs, ever once in a while.

So what’s the big deal?

Let’s say when you smoke, you inhale deep whiffs of nicotine.

The poison goes deep into your lungs and stays, until that rainy day comes when you are feeling queasy for want of fresh air, and medical help, of course.

What if you just take a puff?

Did someone say that puffing is a lighter form of inhaling where the deadly nicotine is not totally “sucked” in?

Is this is a senseless dig at safer smoking?

Or is it just a stupid rationale aim to justify smoking logic?

All over the world, we are reprimanded not to smoke in air conditioned places.

So for a quick puff, you gather in the open alleyway with your regular smoking partners to light a cigarette, relieve temporary stress

and to exchange bits and pieces of sultry news.

This is LOVE IN A PUFF, a film made for SMOKERS, about SMOKING.

Directed by PANG HO-CHEUNG, it has been classified as a Category 3 film in Hong Kong, thanks to a profusion of disturbing smoking scenes and the vulgar Cantonese euphemisms.

Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue star in this exceptional vehicle which tries to be “different”, dwelling on TOBACCO, a taboo subject.

Miriam is this cosmetic salesgirl called Cherie. She is falling out of love with her live-in boyfriend.

She meets this cute advertising boy called Jimmy (Shawn Yue) in the alley who later becomes a smoking partner over the communal ashtray. Now, Jimmy has just broken up with her flighty girlfriend and is seeking companionship.

Love entwines, in an unlikely environment, amid puffs of office gossip.

This is when “sentiments are stirred”, where the gal eventually moves away from the madding crowd to her own secluded alley with this boy, to banter on delicate matters of the heart.

They SMS each other, go on night sprees, light a lot of cigarettes and then fall in love.

All these, depicted in a crash course of 7 days.

Ask any smoker ….. all the savory gossip, jokes and dirty stories are best shared during cigarette breaks, since the smoking law prohibits smoking in indoor areas, public places, restaurants, even karaoke lounges.

Is this an arresting movie?

Well, yes …..the Director has injected interesting docu-style “first person” interviews where the leads and others opine about love and relationships.

And no, Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue do seem to be an odd pairing.

The chemistry ain’t there, they just don’t seem to “match”.

There’s a respite at the end of the movie.

Giving up smoking?

Yeah, with true love, you need no nicotine.

You may seek the camaraderie of other smokers,

and all the other psychological cravings develop later to take away the pain of sadness, boredom and depression and so on.

Love maketh the world go round.

And SMOKING is not amongst them,

not one of the golden rules.

You have seen better days,

So quit smoking, chum!