The Life List: 5 things about Taiwanese movie My Best Friend's Breakfast

Eric Chou (left) and Moon Lee in My Best Friend's Breakfast. PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE PICTURES
My Best Friend's Breakfast is about a misunderstanding that blossoms into a sweet romance starring Moon Lee (left) and Eric Chou. PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE

SINGAPORE - It looks like the way to someone's heart can really be through the stomach.

In the Taiwanese romance My Best Friend's Breakfast, singer-songwriter Eric Chou plays a high schooler who sends breakfast every morning to a girl he has a crush on. Unfortunately, she is not interested, so her best friend, played by actress Moon Lee, winds up eating the free breakfast for a year instead. What begins as a misunderstanding blossoms into a sweet romance.

Here are five things to know about the movie, which is showing in cinemas.

True love story

The movie is adapted from a tale that was first posted on Taiwanese social media platform Dcard in 2015. The heartwarming romance captivated netizens and became a viral hit. Now known as the Breakfast Couple, the lovebirds tied the knot in 2018.

Screenwriter and director Ryan Tu, 55, who has penned series such as Light The Night (2021 to 2022), says he was initially worried about putting the tale on screen as he is more than 30 years older than the characters in the story.

"But I met the couple from the story and they were telling me how they met, how they fell in love and their long-distance relationship during college. I was, like, 'Wow, this is real.'

"I thought that it'd encourage people if they saw this story on screen - the idea that, yes, those romances in dramas can happen in real life too."

Chou's silver screen debut

Eric Chou (right) better known as a singer-songwriter of hit ballads makes his feature film debut in My Best Friend's Breakfast. PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE PICTURES

Chou, better known as the singer-songwriter of hit ballads such as The Distance Of Love, How Have You Been and You Don't Belong To Me, makes his feature film debut here.

The 26-year-old, who also did the score and theme song for the movie, says in a video call with local media: "I was pretty similar to (my character) Tao You-quan in high school because we're both introverts. But he's more confident than I was then, he knows he's good at the guitar and he'll even offer to teach others. In high school, I mostly kept my music to myself."

Tu says of Chou's performance: "He's very natural in the role. Perhaps he got into character through the music he did for the film."

Too much of a good thing

Moon Lee (left) and Eric Chou in My Best Friend's Breakfast. PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE PICTURES

The movie features many scenes of Lee enjoying food and stuffing herself. The 25-year-old, who won Best Newcomer at the Golden Bell Awards for her role in The Victims' Game (2020), says she is actually a small eater.

"All my friends and family who saw the trailer were surprised that I could eat like that. But I definitely went overboard and ate too much while filming the movie. On one of my days off during the shoot, I actually got acute stomach flu and diarrhoea and had to go to the emergency room."

Actors' high-school romances

Stills from the film My Best Friend's Breakfast starring Moon Lee (woman) and Eric Chou. PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE PICTURES

The stars shared their own experiences of love on campus.

Chou, who had girlfriends in middle and high school, recalls: "I'd go to the mall with my mum and ask if I could get a perfume that was obviously meant for women. She would be very confused, like, 'Why are you getting this?'"

Lee adds: "My high-school boyfriend liked to play the drums and I had lots of school activities as well. We cheered each other on and promised to watch each other's performances. But I think our performances actually happened on the same day, so neither of us ended up going to support the other."

Bun- and bread-faced

The two leads are clearly comfortable enough to joke around with each other.

Flashing a picture on her mobile phone to the press, Lee says: "There was one day when he looked unusually pleased with himself. When I asked him why, he showed me this side-by-side comparison of me and Anpanman that he had made. He says we look alike."

Anpanman is a Japanese animated character: a superhero with a red bean bun for a face.

Lee reveals that, in retaliation, she did a comparison photo of Chou and Shokupanman - a character whose face is a slice of white bread.

Chou responds with a laugh: "She really does look like Anpanman."

My Best Friend's Breakfast is showing in cinemas.

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