Advertisement
Review | Mama’s Affair movie review: Mirror members Keung To, Jer Lau make impressive acting debuts in heart-warming drama by writer-director Kearen Pang
- Hong Kong boy band stars Lau and Keung play, respectively, the disaffected son of a talent manager and an aspiring singer whom the manager turns into a star
- Keung is endearing in a role that suits his awkward charm, while Lau has the more demanding task in rising filmmaker Kearen Pang’s gem of a second feature
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
3.5/5 stars
A pop idol is born in Mama’s Affair, and the experience of attaining stardom at once allows the young man in question to put a tragic past behind him and restores harmony to his artiste manager’s quietly disintegrating family.
On one hand, Mama’s Affair is just the latest star vehicle to shepherd the most popular members of Mirror, the Hong Kong boy band taking the city by storm, on to the big screen.
After Anson Lo Hon-ting’s androgynous star turn in the frivolous comedy Showbiz Spy and Edan Lui Cheuk-on’s down-to-earth performance in the pandemic-themed family drama Chilli Laugh Story, this is Keung To and Jer Lau Ying-ting’s chance to shine, in arguably the best film of the batch.
On the other hand, Mama’s Affair marks the second directing effort of Kearen Pang Sau-wai – she also wrote the screenplay and has a hand in producing and editing the film – and it cements the former theatre actress and playwright’s position as one of Hong Kong’s new filmmakers to watch.
Having demonstrated her instincts for cinematic storytelling by adapting her signature play into her film debut 29+1, Pang has here fashioned a surprisingly nuanced portrait of loneliness and human connection set partly on the fringes of Hong Kong’s entertainment business.
Advertisement