The Oscar Hammersteins, Bernie Taupins and Tim Rices of this world would appreciate this endearing Hong Kong film, which focuses on the overlooked figure of the lyric-writer – here, specifically in the Cantopop industry. Norris Wong’s initially light and scampering comedy drama is counterbalanced by a cynicism that warns of the emotional hazards of dreaming big in this ego-crushing melody factory. In the words of the film’s swansong: “Success is great, but no one talks about being frustrated.”
Sze (Chung Suet Ying) is part of a high-school posse of aspiring Cantopop lyric- and songwriters. Insisting that her passion and her work should be the same thing, she is determined to go all the way. Undaunted by her tutor’s warning that “no one makes a living as a lyricist”, she learns the fiddly art of matching the Cantonese tone system to music; after which a breakthrough into the Asian Tin Pan Alley seems imminent when a Taiwanese company takes notice of her work. But the real lesson she must learn is how far to take a masochistic tolerance for disappointment.
