Review | Fall in Love at First Kiss film review: Jelly Lin, Darren Wang in Taiwanese take on popular Japanese teen romance
- Frankie Chen Yu-shan’s film is the latest in a long line of screen adaptations of Kaoru Tada’s manga Itazura na Kiss
- Its conclusion is as inevitable as it is contrived and naggingly frustrating, but is likely to be forgiven by the series’ loyal fan base
3/5 stars
With Fall in Love at First Kiss, Taiwanese TV veteran Frankie Chen Yu-shan follows up the success of her feature film debut Our Times with another fanciful tale of adolescent romance.
The film is the latest in a long line of screen adaptations of Kaoru Tada’s manga Itazura na Kiss, which details the exhaustive efforts of a pretty yet dim high-school senior to win the affections of a top flight student.
With an IQ of 200, Zhi-shu (Darren Wang Da-lu) is an academic overachiever, as well as an impressive athlete, which has won him legions of adoring fans both at school and on social media. When Xiang-qin (Jelly Lin Yun) professes her love for him, he is quick to dismiss her, announcing that he doesn’t date “dumb girls”.
A cruel twist of fate, however, sees Xiang-qin and her father (Tai Chih-yuan) move in with Zhi-shu’s family, bringing the mismatched would-be lovers together. But Zhi-shu continues to reject Xiang-qin, despite her efforts to improve in her exams, on the running track and elsewhere.
Lin, the breakout star of Stephen Chow’s 2016 holiday hit Mermaid , once again taps into the self-deprecating goofiness that worked so well in that film, ensuring Xiang-qin retains the audience’s sympathies despite her increasingly desperate behaviour.
