''Love Lifting'' is a 2012 Hong Kong

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

written and directed by Herman Yau and starring Chapman To and

Elanne Kong Elanne Kong (, born 30 September 1987) is a Hong Kong actress and singer. On 15 May 2020, she announced that she was changing her stage name from Elanne Kwong Yeuk-lam () to Elanne Kwong Yee-ching (). On 11 September 2021, she announced that she c ...

Plot

After experiencing failures in a relationship and business, bar owner Shek Yung ( Chapman To) moves to the suburbs of

Shek O Shek O is an area of the south-eastern part of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It can refers to Shek O village or Shek O Peninsula or Shek O Headland. Administratively, they are part of Southern District. Geography The name "Shek O" literal ...

, where he is mistaken by others as a distressed

triad Triad or triade may refer to: * a group of three Businesses and organisations * Triad (American fraternities), certain historic groupings of seminal college fraternities in North America * Triad (organized crime), a Chinese transnational orga ...

leader. While feeling frustrated and lonely, Yung meets his neighbor Lee Lai (

), a former weightlifter who was forced to retire due to diabetes. Later, the two of them marry and have son. However, Lai cannot let go of her beloved weightlifting career and Yung helps and encourages his wife to repelt back into weight training and fulfil her uncompleted dream. In this way, Yung serves the role as a house husband to support his wife to return to the weightlifting arena.

Cast

* Chapman To as Shek Yung *

as Lee Lai * Tien Niu as Pretty Hung *

Jeremy Tsui Xu Zhengxi (, born 5 May 1985), also known as Jeremy Tsui, Izz Xu, Jones Xu or Jeremy Jones Xu is a Chinese actor. Career He first gained attention with his portrayal of male lead Ji Rufeng in 2011 modern romance drama ''Waking Love Up'', an ...

as Kin *Feng Haoxu as Shek Lui * Zhang Songwen as Coach Chan Chiu *

Huang Jianxin Huang Jianxin (born 14 June 1954) is a Chinese filmmaker. He also writes film scripts under the pen name Huang Xin. He is normally considered part of the fifth generation of Chinese filmmakers (a group that includes Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou and Ti ...

as Coach Qiu *

Jun Kung Jun Kung (; born August 18, 1977) is a drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, actor and multi-instrumentalist. Biography He is known as "The drummer" in Hong Kong, and also an accomplished singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music pro ...

as Brother Ding *Bob Lam as Furniture mover *

Terence Siufay Terence Siufay (born 13 July 1976, in Macau) is a Macanese singer and actor. who has been with the group C-Plus for the past 10 years in Macau. In 2007, he joined Gold Typhoon in Hong Kong. He got the new male singer bronze award from JSG 07 and ...

as Furniture mover *Vincent Chui as Doctor *

Joe Cheung Joe Cheung Tung-cho () is a Hong Kong director, producer, scriptwriter and actor. Filmography As director * ''The Incredible Kung Fu Master'' (1979) * '' Killer Wears White'' (1980) * '' Dan bo dan'' (1981) * ''Pom Pom'' (1984) * ''Feng liu zho ...

as Yung's father *Lee Fung as Yung's mother *Tam Kon-chung as Condo's security guard

Theme song

*''You Give Me Strength'' (你給我力量) **Composer: Alan Cheung **Lyricist: Lee Man **Singer:

Reception

Critical

James Mrash of '' Twitch Film'' gave the film a negative review and writes "While ''Love Lifting'' has plenty of potential, as a sweet natured romance, domestic drama, or competitive sports movie, the script never feels committed to developing its story in any particular direction. A number of subplots are introduced - Yung's financial struggles and money-hungry ex-wife (whom we never see), a rivalry between Li Li's former and current coaches, Li Li's diabetes itself - only to be forgotten about or easily resolved without any drama or difficulty. Instead, the story simply progresses from A to B to C without any sense of urgency, peril, anticipation or excitement."
LoveHKFilm
' gave the film a relatively positive review and writes "Seemingly outrageous premise is played straight to positive, low-key effect. Director Herman Yau never oversells ''Love Lifting'', making it enjoyable and probably a little too light. A likable if inessential film. Elanne Kong is surprisingly effective in the lead role."

Box office

The film grossed US$165,589 at the

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

box office.

Awards and nominations

32nd Hong Kong Film Awards The 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards presentation ceremony took place in Hong Kong Cultural Centre on 13 April 2013. The hosts for the awards ceremony were Eric Tsang, Ronald Cheng, Gordon Lam, Jerry Lamb . TVB, Now TV and RTHK Radio 2 were the live b ...

**Nominated: Best Actress (

) *19th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award **Won: Film of Merit

References

External links

* *
Love Lifting
' at

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, is a bilingual ( French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The websi ...

* {{Herman Yau 2012 films 2012 romantic drama films Hong Kong romantic drama films 2010s sports films Sports fiction 2010s Cantonese-language films Films directed by Herman Yau Films set in Hong Kong Films shot in Hong Kong 2010s Hong Kong films