OPENS JULY 2, CERT TBC, 85 MINS Taipei, summer. It's hot. Be-dimpled spiky-haired school stud Zhang Shihao (Bo-Lin Chen) has fallen for kooky but feisty Meng Kerou (Lun-Mei Guey). Only problem is Meng, who has 'gender issues', has fallen for girlfriend Lin Yuezhen (Shu-hui Liang). And to make matters worse, pretty but shy Lin is obsessed with Zhang! The kind of flick that would be complete cheese if pumped out by a major studio somehow reaches near-transcendent heights in the hands of second-time director Chin-yen Yee. Yes, he frames gorgeously, shoots under metallic blue Taiwanese night skies, and isolates the protagonists almost entirely from the adult world (although these are chaste kids?lock-lipped kisses is as far as it goes). But, most importantly, he treats the subject of adolescent love with the deadly earnestness it deserves?some tense, taciturn scenes are reminiscent of Bergman, while the juvenile cast interact with impressively fraught intensity. The Taiwanese Teen Movie phenomenon starts here!
OPENS JULY 2, CERT TBC, 85 MINS
Taipei, summer. It’s hot. Be-dimpled spiky-haired school stud Zhang Shihao (Bo-Lin Chen) has fallen for kooky but feisty Meng Kerou (Lun-Mei Guey). Only problem is Meng, who has ‘gender issues’, has fallen for girlfriend Lin Yuezhen (Shu-hui Liang). And to make matters worse, pretty but shy Lin is obsessed with Zhang!
The kind of flick that would be complete cheese if pumped out by a major studio somehow reaches near-transcendent heights in the hands of second-time director Chin-yen Yee. Yes, he frames gorgeously, shoots under metallic blue Taiwanese night skies, and isolates the protagonists almost entirely from the adult world (although these are chaste kids?lock-lipped kisses is as far as it goes). But, most importantly, he treats the subject of adolescent love with the deadly earnestness it deserves?some tense, taciturn scenes are reminiscent of Bergman, while the juvenile cast interact with impressively fraught intensity. The Taiwanese Teen Movie phenomenon starts here!
