3/5 stars From its obvious title to its corny synopsis, this well-intentioned movie, co-presented by HKS Education Fund and Baptist University’s Academy of Film, could easily have become another didactic and unoriginal feature about education. Yet Pretty Heart somehow proves thoroughly pleasant viewing. Terry Ng Ka-wai – a first-time director who has worked as assistant director on about a dozen films in the past few years – shows his ability to find subtlety in banal scenarios and extract charismatic performances from his actors, including those new to filmmaking. The stand-out performer is Jennifer Yu Heung-ying, who has gone from strength to strength since she made her film debut in 2016’s Sisterhood . Yu, now 29, is equally comfortable playing clueless teenagers ( Distinction ) and sophisticated adults ( Far Far Away ); her performance in Pretty Heart may well be her best to date. She plays Chloe Lee, a teacher of English at a government-funded secondary school who is underappreciated in her job and lonely in her private life. Chloe has been estranged from her father, Kei (Hugo Ng Hwee-lai), since she was just a young child and witnessed a family conflict that led to her mother’s accidental death. When a chance encounter brings her to a cram school class taught by star tutor KK Ho (TVB actor Vincent Wong Ho-shun), Chloe is disgusted by what she sees as the selling of tips to ace public exams. She then discovers that the school is run by none other than her own father, who is admired even by her students, including the wayward Shu-ting (Viann Li Yu-tsun). Pretty Heart weaves together three predictable storylines that nevertheless remain watchable. There is KK’s effort to woo Chloe, and Kei’s hope to bring Chloe back into his life. The third strand, involving preparations for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education exams , not only contemplates the various approaches to teaching students, but also puts those exams in the larger context of life. For a film which foretells a traffic accident in its first scene and features a protagonist who is living with heart disease, Pretty Heart must be applauded for the delicate balance it strikes to avoid swerving into full-on melodrama territory. Even Wong, whose smirking expression is straight out of TV soap, is given just the right part to impress. While Pretty Heart is far from essential viewing, the gentle humour and unexpected poignancy in its delivery may well catch audiences by surprise. Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook