This story, spanning 10 years, describes the life journey of a rather average hongkong girl, Ah Miu. Ah Miu was born and bred in the wet market. She reluctantly works there for many years to clear her father’s gambling debts. Deep down, she believes that she is meant for a higher station of life. She has 2 wishes, to leave the wet market by the age of 30, and to find a ‘good’ man.Miu meets “Yu Lo” (Eason Chan), another fishmonger, whom she became soulmates with. Miu and Yu went through many ups and downs together, getting conned, ‘upgrading’ the wet market so that it won’t lose its edge over the supermarket etc. They came a long way.
Yu starts to pursue Miu. Miu realizes she is falling for him, but she sees a future she doesn’t want with Yu. On the last day of 1999, Miu finally left the wet market, and broke all ties with Yu and everyone else in the wet market. (Her father has died by then) On the same day, the wet market was shut down by the state, leaving Yu totally shattered.
After 6 years, Miu has become a renowned make-up artist. She has found a good career, but has yet to find a good man. At this time, she recalled Yu, and realized, Yu is her key to real happiness. Miu and Yu finally reunited after the long parting. Nothing seemed to have changed. Their chemistry was still sparkling like it used to be. Just when Miu was about to express her feelings, she realized Yu is already married with a family. Yu was just a simple man who wants a stable job and a caring wife. Miu was simply gone for too long…
Oblivious to Miu’s feelings, Yu walks away with his wife and daughter, while Miu stares at their backs, with a tinge of regret and emptiness. Like how she has always been trying to find her ideal wallet, ‘a Gucci which looks like Prada’, she spent 10 years searching for the wrong ‘happiness’, which may not even have existed, and simply let the best slip by.
This story makes you hooked on it, thinking, where does your happiness lie? What are you looking for in your lifelong partner? It is not only the journey of Ah Miu, but the changes of the other supporting characters as well. Using the history of hongkong as a backdrop, it also tugs the heartstrings of many hongkongers.
With a strong sentimental script and a perfect cast, (leading and supporting), Hooked has come to become my favourite movie of 2007 and in fact, one of my all-time favourites. It is one of the most underrated movies of 2007. The Hongkong film industry needs to produce more films like that rather than slapslick comedies or war epics that are merely empty spectacles.
