Despite running a mere 9 minutes, Beijing based filmmaker Michael Wong jams packs a lot into his award winning short film The Story of 90 Coins.
Filmed in China, 90 Coins is a visually striking story of young lovers Wang Yuyang and Chen Wen as the two make a promise to over 90 days share 90 coins that symbolise their love together with attached stories, only for the two to realise that sometimes to reach your dreams, you must break your promises.
Wong's beautifully shot film quickly captures the essence of what it means to be blindly in love and then have the world all of sudden makes itself apparent to you again and with a touching score by An Wei and impressive lead turns from Dongjun Han and Zhuang Zhiqi, 90 Coins is far more accomplished than many of its other higher profile feature length films that try hard and often fail to engage on an emotionally resonate level.
With technology ever improving from cameras through to editing programs, 90 Coins is but further proof that budding filmmakers now have more tools at their disposal than ever before to create and bring to life their artistic visions and based on this effort that bagged the Best Foreign Short & Best Actress at Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards and also the Rising Star Awards at Canada International Film Festival, it's likely that we haven't seen the last of Wong as his career grows and develops into the future.
Final Say –
While slight, short and sharp, The Story of 90 Coins is a likable and neatly constructed romance with a difference and a visually striking calling card for director Michael Wong.
3 ½ coins out of 5
