Trivial Matters (2008) Reviews

Writer and director Pang Ho-cheung presents seven short sketches of small but emotionally telling moments in this omnibus collection. Isabel Chan and Eason Chan play a young couple who are living together but, to his despair, she doesn't want to sleep with him until they get married. When she consents to have sex to celebrate Christmas, he begins looking for holidays that will put her into a festive mood. An actor (Chapman To) visiting Hong Kong on business is struck with loneliness, and hires a prostitute (Zhang Zheng) to spend some time with him. Kei (Stephy Tang) and Ah Wai (Gillian Chung) are two close friends from school who haven't seen each other for nearly ten years, and discover they no longer have much in common beyond a lingering infatuation with the same aging pop star. A lovelorn guy (Kenny Kwan) tries to impress the girl he loves in high school (Angela Baby) by naming a heavenly body after her, which has unexpected consequences. A hired killer (Shawn Yue) who takes a casual but businesslike approach to his work decides to relax and smoke a joint with his target (Conroy Chan) before pulling the trigger. A college professor (Chan Fai Hung) whose relationship with his wife (Kristal Tin) is faltering turns to one of his students (January Lamb) for advice on putting his marriage back on track. And a would-be ladies' man (Edison Chen) reveals he has a very peculiar way of impressing women. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi