A heartfelt, romantic and lively independent film, b420 is by far the most engaging youth movie this year.
The film, about three teenagers struggling to sort out their lives as they try to make sense of the world, was awarded the Grand Prix at Japan's 19th Fukuoka Asian Film Festival.
The Macau-based film stars pop idol Miki Yeung as Koey, a 19-year-old who has been living with her grandmother since her parents' divorce. She quits school and divides her time between working in a small gift shop and hanging out with Willy (Sam Lee), a former racing champion who is haunted by the death of his girlfriend.
Koey's secret admirer, Simon (Ben Hung), is an introvert who chats with her on the internet under the pseudonym of Jenny.
The trio become best friends and cook up a kidnapping scam to swindle money from a gang boss. Despite their different personalities, they are all lost and misunderstood teenagers in a complex world where true love and friendship are hard to come by.
Having grown up in parentless or single-parent families, the teens are either too shy to express their feelings or too carefree to shoulder the responsibilities of adulthood.