You Are the Apple of My Eye (, ) is a 2011 Taiwanese coming-of-age romance film. It is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Taiwanese author Giddens Ko, who also made his directorial debut with the film. The film stars Ko Chen-tung as Ko Ching-teng, a prankster and a mischievous student who eventually becomes a writer. Michelle Chen stars as Shen Chia-yi, an honor student who is very popular amongst the boys in her class.
You Are the Apple of My Eye was filmed almost entirely on location in Changhua County, including at the high school Giddens attended. The lyrics of "Those Years", the film's main theme, were written by Giddens. The song, which was well received by the public, was nominated for Best Original Film Song at the 48th Golden Horse Awards.
The film's world premiere was at the 13th Taipei Film Festival on 25 June 2011, and it was subsequently released in Taiwanese cinemas on 19 August. Well received by film critics, the movie set box-office records in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Ko Chen-tung won the Best New Performer award at the Golden Horse Awards for his role in the film.
Plot
The story begins in 1994. An outstanding student, Shen Chia-yi, is popular among her teachers and classmates. Ko Ching-teng, a mischievous and poor student, claims that he has no interest in her, despite being her classmate since junior high school. When Chia-yi forgets her textbook, Ching-teng gives her his, pretending that he is the one who forgot, and is punished by the teacher. Touched, Chia-yi prepares practice exams for him to encourage him to get better grades, and they grow closer, with Ching-teng's grades gradually improving. Chia-yi stands up for Ching-teng against a teacher and is punished, earning Ching-teng's and his friends' respect.
On graduation, Ching-teng enrolls at the National Chiao Tung University. Chia-Yi, who was ill during examinations and performed poorly, only manages to enter the National Taipei University of Education with her mediocre test results. Depressed and upset, she is consoled by Ching-teng, who calls her long-distance almost every night from his university. During the winter holiday season that year, the two go on their first "date", during which Ching-teng asks Chia-yi if she likes him. However, fearing she would say no, he decides that he would rather not hear her answer. Ching-teng later organizes a fight night and invites Chia-yi to watch, hoping to impress her with his strength, but instead she finds it childish and disturbing. This upsets Ching-teng, sparking a quarrel that causes the two to stop speaking.
During the years after their split, Ching-teng has no contact with Chia-yi. He qualifies for a graduate research course at Tunghai University, where he begins writing stories online. The two briefly make contact after the 1999 Jiji earthquake, when Ching-teng calls to see if Chia-yi is okay. They both reflect that they were not fated to become a couple. Ching-teng begins writing a web novel inspired by their relationship.
Years later, in 2005, Chia-yi calls Ching-teng to tell him that she is getting married. All of their old friends gather at the wedding, reminiscing about their youth and friendships. When they gather to congratulate the bride and groom, the friends demand to kiss the bride, and the groom jokingly responds that they must kiss him the way they would kiss her. Ching-teng surprises everyone by kissing the groom passionately. While doing so, he imagines sharing the kiss with Chia-yi instead, with all of the bittersweet memories of their youth being flashed back.
Cast Kai Ko as Ko Ching-teng (nicknamed "Ko-teng"), a mischievous schoolboy who later becomes a writer (Ko Ching-teng is the real name of the director, Giddens). Michelle Chen as Shen Chia-yi, an outgoing student who consistently scores well in tests. Although she disdains boys less intelligent than herself, she decides to help Ching-teng improve his grades. In the process, she falls in love with him. Owodog as Tsao Kuo-sheng (nicknamed "Lao Tsao"), one of Ching-teng's friends. He had a crush on Chia-yi, and once asked Ching-teng to deliver a love letter he had written for her. Steven Hao as Hsieh Ming-ho (nicknamed "A-he"), one of Ching-teng's friends. He loves to eat, and is the butt of his friends' jokes due to this. He is the only person in the group who has dated Chia-yi. Emerson Tsai as Liao Ying-hung, one of Ching-teng's best friends. He likes to crack jokes and perform magic tricks, and later becomes a librarian. Yen Sheng-yu as Hsu Bo-chun (nicknamed "Boner"), one of Ching-teng's friends Wan Wan as Hu Chia-wei, Chia-yi's best friend. She likes to draw pictures, and after graduating from school becomes a manga artist known as "The Queen of Blogs".
Production
Development You Are the Apple of My Eye is based on Giddens's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. He changed some details of the story to make the film more dramatic; for example, Ching-teng and Chia-yi's fight actually took place over the phone, not in the rain as depicted. Giddens said, "although some of the reasons for the events in the film were changed, the main storyline remained unchanged". Asked if he was pressured by the recent success of Taiwanese films at the box office, he replied: "No, I am more pressured by whether the film is nice to watch, whether it will succeed in the box office, and whether it will become an embarrassment for me. Also, if the film is not nice, it will be a letdown to Chen-tung and Michelle, who have been working so hard".
At first, the film was on a tight budget; Giddens used his entire savings and mortgaged his house to raise money, saying that he did it to impress ex-girlfriend, who provided the inspiration for this film's female protagonist, Shen Chia-yi. Executive producer Angie Chai also played a key role in raising money for the film.
Casting Michelle Chen was the first cast member confirmed by the director. Mypaper reported that Giddens was attracted to her during their first meeting, saying that she resembled the real Shen Chia-yi. Chen had previously starred in Taiwanese television drama series such as Why Why Love and Miss No Good, although she was better known for her 2009 film Hear Me. Chen went on a diet to lose weight for the role, saying she wished to "not disappoint the director". Giddens later used her as a basis to select the other cast members.
The selection process for the male lead was the longest, and a series of auditions attracted several celebrities. Giddens chose first-time actor Ko Chen-tung because he felt he showed great improvement in his acting skills in each successive audition. Giddens liked his attitude, having seen Ko Chen-tung hiding in a corner, frantically studying the script just before his audition.
The director chose Ao-chuan, Yen Sheng-yu, Hao Shao-wen, and Tsai Chang-hsien to play the roles of his high school friends. He described Hao Shao-wen as being a persuasive speaker, Tsai Chang-hsien as being a very good prankster, and Ao-chuan as self-confident. Hu Chia-wei played herself as a teenager. Giddens describes the two of them as "the Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai of the [Chinese] publishing world".
Giddens's mother told him that she would like either Lotus Wang or Phoebe Huang to play her in the film. In the end, Giddens settled on Lotus Wang, because she did not have any other work commitments at that time. Ko Chen-tung's real father plays the father in the film.
Filming You Are the Apple of My Eye was primarily filmed at Ching Cheng High School (), the school Giddens and Shen Chia-yi attended. The director said he chose the school because "he wanted so badly to see Ko Chen-tung and Michelle Chen in the school uniform that he remembered vividly". The filming of the school scenes could only be done during the Taiwanese school holidays. Because the main location was at the school, it was decided to film the remainder of the film on location throughout Changhua County. The filming had a reported budget of NT$50 million (approx. US$1.67M in January 2012).
Theme song "Childish" (), a song from the film, was written and sung by Michelle Chen. Giddens was so touched by the song that he shed tears "on the spot" after first hearing it; in particular, he liked the song's lyrics. He also praised Michelle's dedication to her role, saying "I believe that the reason that she managed to get inspiration to write this song is because she likes her role [in this film]".
Giddens was also involved in some of this film's theme songs, including "Those Years" (). At first Giddens could not decide on the closing theme for this film; however, after hearing one of Japanese composer Mitsutoshi Kimura's new compositions he chose it and added lyrics. "The Lonely Caffeine" () had been composed by Giddens for Shen Chia-Yi when the two were in a relationship. He asked the male lead actor to sing the song in the film, because he felt this would convey the song's original meaning.
"Those Years" was an instant hit. The music video on YouTube logged its ten millionth viewer on 11 November 2011, leading Giddens to note that the song "broke every notable viewership record set by a Chinese-language video on Youtube". In the Taiwanese KKBOX singles daily charts, "Those Years" remained at the top for 64 consecutive days, from 22 August to 22 October 2011, breaking the previous record of 45 consecutive days. The song was nominated for the Best Original Film Soundtrack award at the 48th Golden Horse Awards.
Editing You Are the Apple of My Eye was edited over for its various releases due to its controversial content. In Taiwan, the film was initially given a "Restricted" film classification. Giddens was extremely upset by this, and even personally went to Government Information Office to appeal. The film had to be edited 4 times in order to lower its classification. In the end, the film received a "Guidance" classification, meaning that children above 12 are able to watch it. In Malaysia, the scene where the students masturbated in the classroom was deleted. In Singapore, the film remained unedited, but it received a NC-16 rating, thus restricting the film to viewers above 16.
The film was heavily edited for its mainland China release. The scene where a flag-raising ceremony was taking place was edited away, as were the scenes involving masturbation. In total, six scenes involving "negative sexual and pro-Taiwan content" were either edited away or changed. The director also had to add new scenes in order to make the story flow more smoothly after editing.
Soundtrack
The original soundtrack album for You Are the Apple of My Eye was released by Sony Music Entertainment Taiwan on 5 August 2011. It contains six songs with vocals and nine instrumental pieces that were used in this film.
Release You Are the Apple of My Eye made its debut in competition at the 13th Taipei Film Festival on 25 June 2011. The film made its international debut as the opening film for the sixth Summer International Film Festival in Hong Kong. It then had its general release in Taiwan on 19 August 2011.
The film was screened at the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival on 24 October 2011, where the director and cast were present. It was well-received, with audiences reportedly squeezing into the cinema to the extent that people had to sit in the aisles. Internationally, the film was released in Hong Kong and Macau on 20 October and in Singapore and Malaysia on 10 November 2011.