Cocktail (2006 film)

Cocktail is a 2006 Hong Kong film produced and directed by Herman Yau and Long Ching. The film stars Candy Lo, Endy Chow, and Race Wong.^[1]

Cocktail
Cocktail film poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	半醉人間
Simplified Chinese	半醉人间
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bànzuì rénjiān Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Bun3zeoi3 jan4gaan1
Directed by	Long Ching Herman Yau
Written by	Cheung Fan
Starring	Race Wong Candy Lo
Release date	19 January 2006 (2006-01-19)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese

Plot

Candy, a thoughtful and introspective character, owns the trendy Hong Kong bar Half Mortal. She hires Paul as a bartender, and her part-time employee Stella, a psychology student, begins to train him. Paul has a unique talent for mixing drinks that match his customers' emotional states.

He comes from a troubled background and is grieving the recent death of his alcoholic father. Having dropped out of school, Paul is also inexperienced with women. He has fallen in love with Stella but struggles to express himself around her.

He ponders whether alcohol can bring happiness or, as Stella believes, simply alters how people act.

Cast

• Candy Lo as Candy
• Endy Chow as Paul
• Race Wong as Stella
• Bobo Chan as Macy
• Lawrence Cheng as Yip Chi-feng
• Chiu Suet-Fei as Yuki (credited as Suet-fei)
• Eric Kot as Tong
• Amanda Lee
• Johnson Lee as John
• Anson Leung as Yat (credited as Chun-yat Leung)
• Peng Wai-On (credited as Eddie Peng)
• Ellis Tang as Hong (credited as Siu-yan Tang)
• Patrick Tang
• Kwok Cheung Tsang as Kuen
• Monie Tung as Fei
• Otto Wang as guest

Analysis

According to a Hong Kong Film Critics Society review, the film's message whether made deliberately or not is "the drunken world is good, but the sober real world is not necessarily bad".^[2] The South China Morning Post called the film "a mild melodrama about the romances of urban twentysomethings" and a "dramatic comed[y] aimed at teens".^[3][4]

Reception

In a Hong Kong Film Critics Society review, the film critic wrote, "As for Cocktail, although the content is relatively cliché and some scenes are a bit sensational, regarding the part of it dealing with the relationship between father and son, I personally think it is better than After This Our Exile."^[5]