Bakery Amour (2001)



	Bakery Amour		Return to Review Archive - B
	Year:	2001	Michelle Reis and Francis Ng
	Director:	Law Kit-Sing
	Cast:	Francis Ng Chun-Yu, Michelle Reis, William So Wing-Hong, Stephanie Che Yuen-Yuen, Conroy Chan Chi-Chung, Law Lan
	The Skinny:	Francis Ng in a romantic comedy?!? Amazingly, it works. Michelle Reis is incredibly beautiful, as always.
	Review by Kozo:	Francis Ng begins his “Meg Ryan” stage with the first of two 2001 romantic films. In this film he plays Uncle Jet, a New Territories hick who hangs out with his “nephew” William So. The two are neighbors to Lok To (Michelle Reis), who happens to be an old friend of William’s. She’s still heartbroken over losing Jia Lam (Chan Chi-Chung), who was her co-worker in a local bakery. He went to France to perfect his baking skills, and the two crossed letters. He claimed to send 99, but she never received them. It turns out Lok To's former neighbor stole the letters for the stamps, and now Uncle Jet has found them. He reads them all, and feels guilty for doing so. To make up for his transgression, he reopens the bakery (Uncle Jet happens to be rich) and employs Lok To in hopes that someday Jia Lam will return and the two will renew their love affair. Lok To agrees, and before you know it, Uncle Jet would rather Jia Lam not return. Yep, Uncle Jet falls for Lok To, and who wouldn’t since she’s played by Michelle Reis at her most charming. Francis Ng is impressive too, as he embodies his backwards introvert with a believable dorkiness. Still, the whole exercise seems doomed at first thanks to a glacial pace and a somewhat cheesy setup. Then things improve as the characters really seem to take on a life of their own. Credit that to an above-average script that even makes William So and Stephanie Che (as Jia Lam’s new girlfriend) believable, real characters. The actors and characters work despite a script that gives everyone a verbalized epiphany. Also, the English songs used for montage sequences are simply the most putrid pieces of schmaltzy crap that you’ve ever laid ears on. In the end the whole thing is fluffy but as far as HK romances go this is a rather pleasing one. (Kozo 2001)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Universe Laser Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

		image courtesy of Universe Laser and Video Co., Ltd.
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