Romance films to charm moviegoers in April
Taiwanese heartthrob Darren Wang, right, is seen in the film “Fall in Love at First Kiss.” /Courtesy of AUD
By Park Jin-hai
A flurry of romantic films will be released this spring to charm local audiences.
With “Fall in Love at First Kiss,” starring Taiwanese heartthrob Darren Wang, currently faring well in the local box office, two more romances “Perfect World” and “Five Feet Apart” will give local audiences sentimental memories of puppy love this month.
Although romance has not been a favored film genre for years, “Fall in Love at First Kiss,” telling of the romance between two teenagers at high school, is currently in third place at the box office.
The adaptation of the Japanese manga series “Itazura na Kiss,” directed by Chen Yu-Shan, has attracted an accumulated 210,000 viewers since its March 27 release.
The girl falls in love with an older boy on the first day of high school but keeps it to herself. When an earthquake hits her house, she and her father move into the house of her father's college friend, who happens to be the father of the boy she loves.
A scene from the film "Perfect World" /Courtesy of D-station
The Japanese film “Perfect World,” which opens Thursday, is also about first love. Kawana Tsugumi has a crush on Itsuki, an older boy on the high school basketball team.
She paints a picture of him but the romance ends up in unrequited love.
When she grows up and starts working for an interior design company, she happens to meet him in a wheelchair. Looking at him, striving for his dream of becoming a great architect despite his physical disability, she falls in love with him again.
But he begins to reject her. Actress Hana Sugisaki, locally known for her role in “Her Love Boils Bathwater” will mesmerize audiences with her image of first love.
Another upcoming romance tells the beautiful but tragic love story of teenagers.
“Five Feet Apart” revolves around two young patients with cystic fibrosis. /Courtesy of Noori Pictures
The American romantic drama “Five Feet Apart” revolves around two young patients with cystic fibrosis who meet each other in hospital. Cystic fibrosis patients are kept at least six feet apart to reduce the risk of cross-infection, as contracting bacterial infections from other patients can be life-threatening.
Although 17-year-olds Stella and Will cannot hold hands or hug each other and the only place for their dates is within the hospital, the two young lovers develop a relationship six feet apart. On one day, they choose to leave the medical facility in order to get one foot closer to each other. Haley Lu Richardson from the film “The Edge of Seventeen” and Cole Sprouse from the TV series “Riverdale” play the young patients.
The film will hit local theaters April 11.