22-year-old Hong Kong actress Cherry Ngan has starred in numerous films such as ‘Finding Mr Right 2’, ‘Mojin - The Lost Legend’ and ‘The Way We Dance’, where she received a Golden Horse nomination for her role in the movie. In the upcoming coming-of-age film ‘At Cafe 6’, Ngan plays a Li Xin-ru, a graduating high school student who falls in love with her classmate Min-lü (played by Dong Zijian).
At Cafe 6 is a film adaptation from the popular novel of the same title. Novelist Neal Wu Ziyun also makes his directorial debut with this film that took him three years to make.
“I kind of really like this role,” said the actress, citing that acting in a romance film is one of her dreams. “I feel that in a romance genre, the theme explored is usually something very honest and detailed. I’ve acted in other films with romance subplots in them, but the (romance) genre was not the main theme.”
“This role is very different from myself,” she shared, adding that her personality is more tomboy in real life. “My character is actually a rather quiet person, so it’s still quite comfortable playing Li Xin-Rui - her character, views, even her movements are very different from me personally. So maybe in that way, it is a blessing in disguise because it is actually very interesting to play her.”
It was also the first time for author-turned-director Neal Wu at the helm of his new movie. “The change (from author to director) is very huge,” exclaimed Wu. “There were many aspects to creating the film, and I had to manage them one-by-one. I have put in a lot of time and effort to complete this movie… I’m happy that it’s completed.”
When asked if he would take on more directing positions in the future, Wu quipped that he ‘would be better off writing more novels instead’.
“Filming is definitely more tiring than writing a novel. To be direct, if I’m a novelist, I am play ‘God’ where I can write whatever I want. On the contrary, filming is tougher because there are a lot of unexpected situations. For novels, I can finish it all by myself, but to make a film, I would need a lot of people to complete this project together.
I won’t just disregard being a director in the future, but I’ll have to look out for the opportunities and see if there is a possibility to film a next movie… and if Cherry Ngan is willing to act in my film!”
He added: ”The hardest (aspect in being a director) is to make fast decisions and having the confidence to make the right decisions. Because you won have much time to hesitate to evaluate if your decisions are correct because there are many people waiting for your instructions, so I have to have adequate experience to know if my decisions are the right ones and not give them (the crew) additional jobs.
(Watch the trailer here!)
The nostalgia comedy-drama may bring some comparisons to other recent Taiwanese films of similar genres like ‘You Are The Apple Of My Eye’ and ‘Our Times’, which garnered much buzz for its puppy love stories.
Wu is confident that moviegoers will enjoy his film as much as the others. “At Cafe 6 looks like a youthful, coming-of-age film but when you watch it, you will feel that it’s more than just a coming-of-age drama. You will realise that it is about how two people live their lives differently, and how their experiences and background change the outcome.”
At Cafe 6 also stars Dong Zijian, Austin Lin and Ouyang Nini, and opens InCinemas 14 July 2016!