with hong kong introducing anti-smoking laws, smokers are driven outside; congregating in alleyways to have a smoke. cherie (miriam yeung) and jimmy (shawn yu) are two such smokers, who meet, smoke and find themselves falling for each other...

a new film from pang ho-cheung is always well received in my house and this one is no exception. i'll state immediately that it is by no means his strongest work, but he is still one of my favourite film-makers who is currently working in hong kong. 'love in a puff' sits firmly in the rom-com-drama category and is, for hong kong, an extremely understated affair. although, i guess one should expect this from pang, who tones down the melodramatics and goof-ball antics one might expect to find in such a tale. instead he goes for something altogether more real, even if that means his use of lewd dialogue garners the film a cat III rating.

any how, it isn't a classic, but neither is it a dud. it plays out nicely, there's some laughs and some very nicely done scenes, with the cast, especially shawn and miriam (who make a good pair) doing well.

pretty good, but only pretty good.