Film Review: Break Up 100 transcends its romantic roots
In 1994, Lawrence Cheng Tan-shui directed a romantic comedy whose male star was 14 years older than the film's female lead. Two decades later, his first directorial effort since He & She has a lead actor who's 17 years the senior of the main actress.
Starring: Ekin Cheng Yi-kin, Chrissie Chau Sau-na, Ivana Wong Yuen-chi
Director: Lawrence Cheng Tan-shui
Category: IIA (Cantonese and Putonghua)
In 1994, Lawrence Cheng Tan-shui directed a romantic comedy whose male star was 14 years older than the film's female lead. Two decades later, his first directorial effort since He & She has a lead actor who's 17 years the senior of the main actress.
Yet the age gap isn't very noticeable in Break Up 100 — in part because 46-year-old Ekin Cheng Yi-kin's character is a "kidult", and the one portrayed by 29-year-old Chrissie Chau Sau-na is the more mature of the duo.
In the kind of "opposites attract" pairing beloved of filmmakers, Sam (Ekin Cheng) and Nam (Chau) — who's referred to as Barbara in the English subtitles — have been romantically involved for eight years. Over this period, their relationship has had its ups and downs. To be precise, they've broken up 99 times already, often over extremely trivial matters, but got back together again 99 times as well.
Rather than do nothing but wait around fatalistically for break-up number 100 to occur, Sam and Nam go ahead and open a cafe, which they operate with the help of four young men (C AllStar) who are far better singers than waiters.
From day one, they attract quirky characters to the establishment, including a customer (Eric Kot Man-fai) who points out that its name has been mistakenly written out as LA Cafe Pillowcase in French (rather than "I love you", as Sam had intended) and Priscilla (Ivana Wong Yuen-chi), the friendly proprietor of the nearby Priscilla's Bakery.