VIEW THIS PAGE Determined to look after his girlfriend if he dies on the operating table, the terminally ill Van Fan (范逸臣) searches for a man who has exactly the same voice as he has to take his place.
Blue Lan (藍正龍), a reticent music video director, re-encounters old flame Annie Liu (劉心悠) and realizes a car accident has erased her memories of their love.
Movie stuntman Ethan Ruan (阮經天) dashes out the door after a lover’s spat with his flight attendant girlfriend, Alice Tzeng (曾愷玹).
Plain homebody Tracy Chou (周采詩) turns to a fortune-teller for love advice, who tells her she’ll meet six guys sporting bangs with the last being Mr Right.
The four love stories that form L-O-V-E (愛到底) are directed by four celebrities turned first-time film directors.
With homegrown stars making cameos and guest appearances, the film is an entertaining hodgepodge of comedy and romance, glossed up with A-lister charm and a blitz of publicity. But the filmmaking delivered by some of its creators barely passes muster and hinders the wannabe blockbuster from living up to its star-studded ambitions.
Jiu Ba-dao (九把刀), also known as Giddens, a best-selling blogger, writer and cultural pundit, applies his talent in literature to filmmaking in his story about a young man’s dying wish to look after the woman he loves long after he’s gone. The narrative glides smoothly and turns from the fun, loving moments between the lovers to a more melancholy tone, though the film could use some trimming to tighten things up a bit.
Both Fan and Megan Lai (賴雅妍), who plays the girlfriend, are well cast as the young couple and turn in naturalistic performances that help make the opening scene in which the two frolic with toy lightsabers look cute.
In terms of technique, music video director Chen Yi-xian’s (陳奕先) tale about the stuntman and flight attendant is the most professional looking of the four. Pop idols Ruan and Tzeng are on top form, appearance-wise. The former has matured into a charismatic soup opera actor and young heartthrob. Chen presents his thin subject matter, lovers’ bickering and reconciliation, in images that are pleasing to look at, but which lack narrative punches.
The segment about an awkward girl’s search for Mr Right feels more like a variety show than a film. Aiming for goofy humor and exaggerated hilarity, veteran entertainer Mickey Zi-jiao Huang (黃子佼) calls on a legion of showbiz luminaries to make surprise guest appearances that raise the level of entertainment and fun. The lineup includes “godmother of television” Chang Hsiao-yen (張小燕), former idol and actor Alec Su (蘇有朋), Ken Chu (朱孝天) of F4, boy group Lollipop (棒棒堂), established actress Lu Yi-ching (陸弈靜) and Makiyo, who are possibly the hottest gas pump girls on screen to date.
But as the exaggerated humor repeats and becomes overused, the picture grows tedious and feeble toward the end.
Vincent Wen-shan Fang (方文山) is the weakest link in the quartet. His story isn’t engaging, while actors Lan and Liu struggle embarrassingly with the lead characters, which they portray as dreadfully lifeless. VIEW THIS PAGE
Dec. 16 to Dec. 22 Growing up in the 1930s, Huang Lin Yu-feng (黃林玉鳳) often used the “fragrance machine” at Ximen Market (西門市場) so that she could go shopping while smelling nice. The contraption, about the size of a photo booth, sprayed perfume for a coin or two and was one of the trendy bazaar’s cutting-edge features. Known today as the Red House (西門紅樓), the market also boasted the coldest fridges, and offered delivery service late into the night during peak summer hours. The most fashionable goods from Japan, Europe and the US were found here, and it buzzed with activity
During the Japanese colonial era, remote mountain villages were almost exclusively populated by indigenous residents. Deep in the mountains of Chiayi County, however, was a settlement of Hakka families who braved the harsh living conditions and relative isolation to eke out a living processing camphor. As the industry declined, the village’s homes and offices were abandoned one by one, leaving us with a glimpse of a lifestyle that no longer exists. Even today, it takes between four and six hours to walk in to Baisyue Village (白雪村), and the village is so far up in the Chiayi mountains that it’s actually
These days, CJ Chen (陳崇仁) can be found driving a taxi in and around Hualien. As a way to earn a living, it’s not his first choice. He’d rather be taking tourists to the region’s attractions, but after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the region on April 3, demand for driver-guides collapsed. In the eight months since the quake, the number of overseas tourists visiting Hualien has declined by “at least 90 percent, because most of them come for Taroko Gorge, not for the east coast or the East Longitudinal Valley,” he says. Chen estimates the drop in domestic sightseers after the
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum last week, said the US is confident it can defeat the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Pacific, though its advantage is shrinking. Paparo warned that the PRC might launch a “war of necessity” even if it thinks it could not win, a wise observation. As I write, the PRC is carrying out naval and air exercises off its coast that are aimed at Taiwan and other nations threatened by PRC expansionism. A local defense official said that China’s military activity on Monday formed two “walls” east
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