Short Film Review: 'The Story of 90 Coins' (2015)

Director Michael Wong keeps true to our favorite romantic dramas by leaving us feeling somber and reflective on how quickly we can forget promises we’ve made.

★★★★★

NR - Indie, Drama, Romance (10 minutes)

dir. Michael Wong

Starring: Dongjun Han, Zhuang Zhiqi, Jose Acosta

“How much is a promise worth these days? An aspiring fashion designer finds out when she has to choose between fulfilling her promise and realizing her dream.”

— Official Synopsis

The Story of 90 Coins takes you through the promise made by one couple. Our narrator and female lead, Chen Wen (Zhuang Zhiqi), promises our male lead Wang Yuyang (Dongjun Han) a total of 90 days together before she decides to be with him or part ways. In turn, he gives her a coin wrapped in paper each day. 

As a hopeless romantic, watching their days melt into each other reminds me of why we all crave to fall in love. The cinematographer, Liwei Jian, captured these incredibly intimate moments that were then intercut together to create a beautiful, seamless love story in under ten minutes. Zhiqi and Han have an undeniable amount of chemistry; and in this short amount of time I was enraptured by their story. Director Michael Wong keeps true to our favorite romantic dramas by leaving us feeling somber--yet reflective--on just how quickly we can forget the promises we’ve made.

Watch the full film here: https://vimeo.com/143267832