How Woody Allen fan Joe Ma channelled John Hughes and Peter Chan for Feel 100%, 1990s Hong Kong youth romance starring Ekin Cheng, Gigi Leung and Sammi Cheng
- Scriptwriter Joe Ma directed Feel 100% when he was in his thirties, and said he was heavily inspired by John Hughes’ teen coming-of-age films from the 1980s
- Feel 100% boosted the film careers of Cantopop stars Ekin Cheng and Sammi Cheng, in her debut role, and was one of the most popular Hong Kong movies of the 90s
Joe Ma Wai-ho began his career as a scriptwriter but made his name in 1996 as the director of Feel 100%, an above-par youth film that successfully tapped into the mood of the times in Hong Kong. It was a big hit and went on to become one of the most popular youth dramas of the 1990s.
Unlike most Hong Kong youth dramas back then, it eschewed crudity for cleverness, mimicking the tone of American television dramas and teen films, and Woody Allen films. What is more, Ma managed to be frank and funny about sex while keeping everything tasteful.
Although its characters were relatively one-dimensional, Ma’s lively film covered relationship issues in a way that its target audience could relate to.
“It may be a comic book adaptation, but what distinguishes Feel 100% is that it is all done with gusto,” wrote Post critic Paul Fonoroff. “Even though the protagonists may be emotional stick figures, they emerge with more than a modicum of depth and humanity.”
