Macau is often shown as a city of bright lights and easy fortune, where casinos rise like temples of luck and excess. But behind the glamour, there is another reality made up of ordinary people living in the shadow of debt and hope. I Blew Out the Candles Before Making a Wish, directed by Chao Koi-wang and Hu Chin-ye, turns away from the usual pompous Casio-style films and looks instead at this smaller, more fragile world. It is not interested in the winners; it is drawn to those who keep playing even when the odds are already lost.

Rather than placing its story inside the loud, glowing interiors of casinos, the film stays mostly in Macau’s residential corners. Gambling is everywhere in the background, but it is never treated as glamorous. And here we have Jojo, played with astonishing natural power by Mui Cheng-in. She is young, sharp, determined, and stubborn. When her father disappears due to gambling debts, she clings to a strange idea: that a set of “dead chips” might somehow change everything. In her mind, they become a chance to rebuild what has been lost. It is a child’s logic meeting a very adult world, and the film never looks down on her for it.

Mui’s performance is impressive; she acts as if the character is always thinking beneath the surface. It’s rare to see this level of control and emotions from such a young actor. Jojo feels completely real, not like a character being acted.

The story changes when Hua enters the picture, played by Kai Ko. The actor had already shown his range with two very different films presented at this year’s Far East Film Festival – this film and Kung Fu. Those projects presented his ability to adapt, but here, he reaches something deeper. Hua is not a hero, and the film never tries to turn him into one. He is a man weighed down by financial pressure and personal failure. Working as a debt collector despite lacking any real authority or intimidation, he moves through life with a lot of hesitation. When he crosses paths with Jojo, something unexpected forms between them, a fragile connection built on mutual loneliness.

Kai Ko delivers one of the strongest performances of his career here. There is a softness to Hua that’s new, a vulnerability present in every interaction. After following Kai’s work across Taiwanese dramas and bigger commercial projects, this role is more subtle, natural, but also powerful in its own right. It reveals a different side of his acting, especially as he had to learn Cantonese for the role.

Surrounding Hua and Jojo is a world that is never stable. Even the supporting characters – an overworked teacher, a weary grandmother, a struggling dealer, migrant workers trying to survive – are all connected to gambling in some indirect way. Yet the film doesn’t turn anyone into a simple victim or villain. Everyone is just trying to hold on to something, even if that something keeps slipping away.

Macau is not treated as a place of luxury and fantasy, but as somewhere where hope and disappointment exist next to each other. Casinos are there, but we occasionally go inside them; instead, the focus is on the people around them – those who bet small, lose quietly, and still return the next day. In the end, I Blew Out the Candles Before Making a Wish is less about gambling than it is about hope. Through Jojo and Hua, the film finds something human: the need to believe in change, even when change feels impossible.

I Blew Out the Candles Before Making a Wish is an impressive directorial debut, showing strong control of story and tone. It is confident and already highly accomplished for a first feature by both directors.

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Written by Maggie Gogler

Featured image courtesy of the Far East Film Festival

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