Cheung Fan

Six Hong Kong roommates vow to each accomplish something daring or wonderful within one year.

The melancholy Candy runs the Half Mortal, a trendy bar in Hong Kong. She hires Paul; Stella, a part-time employee who's a college student in psychology, trains him. He has a gift for mixing the perfect drink to fit each customer's emotional needs. His own emotions, however, are complex: his father, an alcoholic, has died recently; he's abandoned his studies; and, although he's likes Stella, he's a tyro with women and inarticulate with her. Is alcohol the key to happiness, as Paul wonders; does it simply change peoples' personality, as Stella thinks; or, is it just there, as Candy's business sense tells her? Can Paul and Stella blend into something smooth?

Six Hong Kong roommates vow to each accomplish something daring or wonderful within one year.

The melancholy Candy runs the Half Mortal, a trendy bar in Hong Kong. She hires Paul; Stella, a part-time employee who's a college student in psychology, trains him. He has a gift for mixing the perfect drink to fit each customer's emotional needs. His own emotions, however, are complex: his father, an alcoholic, has died recently; he's abandoned his studies; and, although he's likes Stella, he's a tyro with women and inarticulate with her. Is alcohol the key to happiness, as Paul wonders; does it simply change peoples' personality, as Stella thinks; or, is it just there, as Candy's business sense tells her? Can Paul and Stella blend into something smooth?