Fifteen Candles (2000)

Troubled teens, broken homes, delinquency and the gap between rich and poor come into play in Fifteen Candles, a low-key youth drama from director Tan. The lead character is schoolboy Ching Kwan, a teenage betting wiz hanging with shady company at school. Getting up to no good in and out of the classroom with his mate Kau, Kwan moves on to high-profile blackmail so he can buy a dialysis machine for his ill mother.

The main gist is straightforward, albeit tangled up with other side plots. A well-off girl comes into Kwan's life, Kau falls out with his triad boss, and a mate named Dumpling starts dealing drugs at school. Though appearing piecemeal on screen, the various threads combine to touch on the above-mentioned social issues, while other moments cover materialistic Hongkongers and school troubles. Unfortunately, the script isn't strong enough to carry all this information, leaving some characters and aspects without nearly enough development.

Fifteen Candles' actors are largely unknowns with the obvious exception of Law Koon-lan. Law adds a touch of warmth to the production as Kwan's mother and is pleasant to watch. The production itself is fair, even with a couple of brief action sequences from martial arts director Stephen Tung livening it up. While music is credited to Tats Lau Yi-dat, the soundtrack is mainly a collection of guitar rock and riffs from local bands. Black and Blue (singer/actress Candy Lo Hau-yum's old band) and Survivor are among those contributing instrumentals to the soundtrack.

Pinning a date on the production schedule isn't all that easy, as Fifteen Candles appears to have been held back from theatrical release. The film holds glimpses of Kai Tak Airport, which closed in July 1998, as well as a Christmas greeting written on a blackboard. The ratings certificate was given in May 2000 and the film was released in September.

This painted billboard for Fifteen Candles wooed passersby into the Imperial Theatre.

Credits:

Directed by Tan
Starring Law Koon-lan, Jerry Ma, Yu Ip-shing and Baat Leung Gum