# Love in a Puff (志明与春娇)
**Love in a Puff** (志明与春娇) is a 2010 Hong Kong romantic comedy directed by Pang Ho-cheung (彭浩翔), in which an advertising executive and a cosmetics salesgirl begin a relationship in the back alleys where office smokers gather after Hong Kong's indoor smoking ban.[1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) It stars Miriam Yeung as Cherie and Shawn Yue as Jimmy, was written by Pang and Heiward Mak, and opened in Hong Kong on March 25, 2010.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1602479/) • [1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) Made as a small local production at a time when Hong Kong-China co-productions dominated, it became a word-of-mouth success, won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Screenplay, and launched a three-film series.[3](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA) • [4](https://www.piecsmakow.pl/vod-film.s?id=1120&lang=en)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 志明与春娇 (Chi ming yu chun kiu); English title Love in a Puff[1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) |
| Director and writers | Pang Ho-cheung; screenplay by Pang Ho-cheung and Heiward Mak[1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) |
| Principal cast | Miriam Yeung (Cherie), Shawn Yue (Jimmy)[1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) |
| Release | March 25, 2010, Hong Kong; worldwide gross $857,176[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1602479/) |
| Hong Kong rating | Category III, largely for Cantonese profanity, which limited younger audiences[3](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA) • [5](https://hkfilm.net/movrevs4/lovepuff.htm) |
| Hong Kong box office | HK$6.32 million over a one-month run[3](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA) |
| Awards | Hong Kong Film Awards 2011, Best Screenplay; Hong Kong Film Critics Society 2011, Film of Merit[4](https://www.piecsmakow.pl/vod-film.s?id=1120&lang=en) |
| Sequel | *Love in the Buff* (春娇与志明, 2012), a co-production set in Beijing[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and story
The film takes as its starting point a real policy change: the indoor smoking ban that took effect in Hong Kong on January 1, 2007, which pushed smokers out of their offices and into the streets.[4](https://www.piecsmakow.pl/vod-film.s?id=1120&lang=en) [Strangers](https://www.edgepedia.org/strangers) from nearby workplaces gather around public ashtrays that look like rubbish bins, in a huddle the film's characters call "hot potting", trading gossip, dirty jokes, and horror stories.[1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) • [5](https://hkfilm.net/movrevs4/lovepuff.htm)
Jimmy, a mild-mannered advertising executive, and Cherie, a cosmetics salesgirl a few years older than he is, meet in one of these groups and exchange phone numbers after a chat.[1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) • [7](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/273) Over the following week they talk and text through dozens of cigarettes and drift into a relationship almost accidentally, while their existing and past attachments threaten the courtship.[1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) • [5](https://hkfilm.net/movrevs4/lovepuff.htm) In the story's turning point, the government announces an increase in the tobacco tax, and Jimmy calls Cherie to join a late-night drive across the city buying up cigarettes from convenience stores; on that night they become a couple.[8](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C/umc.cmc.6wgtc9j6a8l7gn3qmhf0cre9j) Cherie's boyfriend, who reads the text messages Jimmy sends her, believes she has betrayed him.[9](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/350385/info/)
### Sequel and series
The film's characters proved popular enough to carry a series. Producer John Chong noted that the first film was popular with young audiences but that its Category III rating held the box office down, so the sequel was made as a Hong Kong-China co-production, reclassified to allow student audiences, and aimed at mainland viewers as well.[12](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-03_newsletter/newsletter91_c.pdf) In *[Love in the Buff](https://www.edgepedia.org/love-in-the-buff)* (春娇与志明, 2012), Jimmy and Cherie have separated; he takes a job in Beijing, where he meets a flight attendant played by [Yang Mi](https://www.edgepedia.org/yang-mi), while Cherie, also working in Beijing, meets a steady businessman played by Xu Zheng, and the two former lovers meet again in that city.[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html) • [13](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C%E8%88%87%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E/umc.cmc.18ckbbircl62n0mauza5k4325) Co-productions made under CEPA, the trade arrangement introduced after the 2003 SARS downturn, were often criticized for catering to mainland tastes at the expense of Hong Kong character, but *Love in the Buff* succeeded in both markets, grossing about HK$28 million in Hong Kong and, according to the Hong Kong Film Archive's account, close to HK$100 million across the two markets.[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html) • [3](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA) • [12](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-03_newsletter/newsletter91_c.pdf) A third film, *[Love Off the Cuff](https://www.edgepedia.org/love-off-the-cuff)* (春娇救志明), followed in 2017.[3](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA)
The first film left a visible mark on local culture: the footbridge at the Ngau Tau Kok junction where the couple's key scene takes place became a fan pilgrimage spot nicknamed "Chiming Bridge", and the film's characters, dialogue, glasses, theme music, and locations were all taken up by young audiences.[3](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA)
## Style
Pang shoots the courtship with naturalistic camerawork and relaxed lounge music, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam program noted that he occasionally approaches the looseness of the French Nouvelle Vague, making the film a light-hearted exception within his usually more provocative body of work.[1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) Interviews with real people about smoking habits and relationships are juxtaposed with the fictional story.[1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) The dialogue, much of it in profane [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese), gives what the scholar Helen Hok-sze Leung called an unprecedentedly frank portrayal of the ingenious and playful ways Cantonese is used by Hong Kong's middle class, and the film shows close-ups of the couple's text messages, which mix English, Chinese, Cantonese slang, and digital language.[10](https://www.sfu.ca/~hhl/resources/leung_ch11.pdf) A line such as "n 55!w !", which reads upside down as "I miss U", entered everyday conversation among the film's fans.[3](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA)
## Reception and rating
Because of its extensive [Cantonese profanity](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese-profanity), the film was classified Category III in Hong Kong, the rating that restricts audiences aged 18 and over; some observers also pointed to the heavy on-screen smoking as a factor in the harsh rating, at a time when the government was publicly discouraging filmmakers from showing characters who prominently smoke.[3](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA) • [5](https://hkfilm.net/movrevs4/lovepuff.htm) [Public health](https://www.edgepedia.org/public-health) researchers at the [University of Hong Kong](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-hong-kong), writing in the journal *Tobacco Control*, criticized the film for putting smoking at center stage with numerous smoking scenes and words that glamorize smoking.[11](https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2010/09/17/tc.2010.037879.full.pdf)
The rating was expected to limit the film's audience, and it was not favored before release, but positive word of mouth sustained a one-month theatrical run and a Hong Kong gross of HK$6.32 million, a strong result for a Category III film.[3](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA) [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) records a worldwide gross of $857,176, of which $824,659 came from Hong Kong, with smaller releases in Singapore and Malaysia.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1602479/) The film screened at festivals including the Seattle International Film Festival in 2010 and the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2011.[4](https://www.piecsmakow.pl/vod-film.s?id=1120&lang=en) • [1](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff) At the 2011 Hong Kong Film Awards it won Best Screenplay, and the Hong Kong Film Critics Society named it a Film of Merit.[4](https://www.piecsmakow.pl/vod-film.s?id=1120&lang=en)
## References
1. [Love in a Puff, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2011](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2011/films/love-in-a-puff)
2. [Love in a Puff (2010), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1602479/)
3. [《志明與春嬌》十周年 何以跟觀眾由志同道合變成後巷的陌路人, HK01 (2020)](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/452170/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C-%E5%8D%81%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4-%E4%BD%95%E4%BB%A5%E8%B7%9F%E8%A7%80%E7%9C%BE%E7%94%B1%E5%BF%97%E5%90%8C%E9%81%93%E5%90%88%E8%AE%8A%E6%88%90%E5%BE%8C%E5%B7%B7%E7%9A%84%E9%99%8C%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA)
4. [Love in a Puff, Five Flavours Asian Film Festival](https://www.piecsmakow.pl/vod-film.s?id=1120&lang=en)
5. [Love in a Puff review, HKFilm.net](https://hkfilm.net/movrevs4/lovepuff.htm)
6. [春娇与志明, 香港电影资料馆](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html)
7. [志明與春嬌, 台北金馬影展](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/273)
8. [《志明與春嬌》, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E%E8%88%87%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C/umc.cmc.6wgtc9j6a8l7gn3qmhf0cre9j)
9. [志明与春娇 (2010), 1905电影网](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/350385/info/)
10. [Helen Hok-sze Leung, "Love in the City: The Placing of Intimacy in Urban Romance Films", in A Companion to Hong Kong Cinema (2015)](https://www.sfu.ca/~hhl/resources/leung_ch11.pdf)
11. [Ho, S.-Y. et al., "'Carcinogens in a puff': smoking in Hong Kong movies", Tobacco Control](https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2010/09/17/tc.2010.037879.full.pdf)
12. [Newsletter 91, Hong Kong Film Archive (2020)](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-03_newsletter/newsletter91_c.pdf)
13. [《春嬌與志明》, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C%E8%88%87%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E/umc.cmc.18ckbbircl62n0mauza5k4325)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2009 to 2010 › Released in 2010*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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