You Are the Apple of My Eye (2011)

A group of close friends who attend a private school all have a debilitating crush on the sunny star pupil, Shen Jiayi. The only member of the group who claims not to is Ke Jingteng, but he ends up loving her as well.

Director:

Giddens Ko

Writers:

Giddens Ko (novel), Giddens Ko (screenplay)

Stars:

Kai Ko, Michelle Chen, Shao-Wen Hao

9 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Kai Ko	...	Ko Ching-teng / Ko-teng
Michelle Chen	...	Shen Chia-Yi (as Yan-Hsi Chen)
Shao-Wen Hao	...	Hsieh Ming-ho / Fattie (as Steven Hao)
Owodog	...	Tsao Kuo-sheng / Cock (as Ao-Chuan)
Emerson Tsai	...	Liao Ying-hung / Groin (as Chang-Hsien Tsai)
Yan-xi Hou	...	Hsu Bo-chun / Boner (as Sheng-yu Yen)
Wan Wan	...	Hu Chia-wei
Lotus Wang	...	Ching-teng's mother
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Beatrice Fang	...	High school girl at library
Denny Huang	...	Couple
Yi-Siang Huang
Li-Hung Kao	...	Ms Chou, Chinese teacher
Megan Lai	...	Couple
Vivi Lee	...	English teacher
Sean Sun	...	Chien Wei

Storyline

A coming of age story featuring a group of Taiwanese teenagers/friends and their experience as they all fall in love with the same girl: Shen Jiayi, the star student of the school. A story about the complexities and bitter sweetness of high school life set in the backdrop of Taiwanese cultures and traditions.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel | voice over | voice over narration | year 1994 | high school | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Official site [Taiwan]

Country:

Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

19 August 2011 (Taiwan)

Also Known As:

You Are the Apple of My Eye

Box Office

Budget:

TWD50,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$29,843,025

Company Credits

Production Co:

Star Ritz Productions Co., Sony Music Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min 109 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Giddens Ko: during the photo taking session at the wedding banquet.

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Quotes

Kuo-Sheng Tsao: Don't you think...
Ching-Teng Ko: Think what?
Kuo-Sheng Tsao: Don't you think Shen Chia-Yi likes me? If not, why would she wear a ponytail today?

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Crazy Credits

After the film credits, a blooper scene featuring the actress Michelle Chen is shown.

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Connections

Referenced in Café. Waiting. Love (2014)

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Soundtracks

Those Bygone Years
Music by Mitsutoshi Kimura
Lyrics by Giddens Ko
Arranged by Chris Hou & Queenie Lin
Performed by Xia Hu

User Reviews

Heart-warming coming-of-age movie for youths

There has been a clamour for this Taiwanese coming-of-age film among Chinese youth ever since it opened at the Hong Kong Summer International Film Festival in August this year. Indeed, Giddens Ko's directorial debut is based on his semi-autobiographical novel, "The Girl We Chased Together in Those Years" (its Mandarin title), which was a best-seller among online readers. Needless to say, "Apple" reigned at the Taiwan box office for more than a month, landing at second place on the nation's chart of all-time box office hits. For viewers young and old, it is a nostalgia trip to their carefree school days when hormones rage and hope abounds. The narration, by Ko Chen-Tung who plays Giddens (or Ching-Teng), starts off in 2005 when protagonist Ching-Teng is dressing up for a wedding. Next, it takes us back 10 years earlier (1995) to Ching-Teng's school days when he and his buddies, Boner (Yen Sheng-yu), Cock, Groin (Tsai Chang-hsien) and A-Ho (Steven Hao) are students of Ching-Cheng High, a backwater school in Changhua in central Taiwan. All these boys admire ace student Shen Chia-Yi (Michelle Chen) and many of them even have a crush on her. However, Chia-Yi is closest to Ching-Teng because she has been instructed by a teacher to tutor Ching-Teng in his studies and help him stay out of trouble. The two gradually fall in love but have to separate when they go to college. Staying apart, the couple face many challenges and temptations which threaten to tear them from each other... The school pranks and events are seen from Ching-Teng's point-of-view and he pulls no punches to show us what it is like during those heady and crazy days. We see the boys masturbating, disturbing girls and handling heartbreak and separation. One college scene explains why the boys jerk off with their left hand while watching online porn - the right is needed to move the mouse. We see how the girls have to put up with these pranks and crass jokes and somehow manage to hold their own. The best part of Giddens' direction is that we can easily identify with the protagonist and the lead cast. In any co-ed class, there will always be a beautiful bookworm like Chia-Yi whom all the boys will admire and even try to court; and there will be the resident sex maniac, the fat slob, and other weirdos. All these characters are credibly developed although there are some sequences, like Ching-Teng and his dad going naked in his house, that are not satisfactorily explained or rationalised. Another is Ching-Teng's refrain from intimacy with Chia-Yi even at intimate moments. And just as the boys have a crush on Michele Chen's Chia-Yi, we too are charmed by her. Chen is such a natural that her Chia-Yi reminds us of the girl-next-door, captivating our hearts especially in the scene where she is summarily punished with the boys for being disrespectful of the teacher. This is one movie from which you will leave the cineplex with a smile on your face and feeling warm in your heart.