Johnnie To's (杜琪峰) films are always highly anticipated and well received. Gangster movies like The Mission (鎗火), PTU and Election (黑社會) earned him the status of a world-class director. In light of that, his latest work, Linger (蝴蝶飛), may catch his fans by surprise as the director swerves into romantic territory. Taiwanese heartthrob Vic Chou (周渝民) of boy band F4 fame and China's Li Bingbing (李冰冰) turn in competent performances in this tale of love, loss, regret and rebirth.
The film begins with Dong (Vic Chou) dying in a car accident during a quarrel with his college sweetheart, Yan (Li Bingbing). The tragedy leaves Yan a psychological wreck who is barely able to cope, even with the help of Prozac.
Three years pass and when Yan's psychologist suggests that she comes off the medication, Dong's ghost appears, full of anger and regret over his death. At first confused and laden with guilt, Yan begins to pick up the bits and pieces of Dong's past: The life of a child growing up in a dysfunctional single-parent family.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF GROUP POWER ENTERTAINMENT
It hardly need be said that the two reconcile and love rekindles, but there is something other than love for Yan that keeps Dong's spirit lingering in the mortal world.
Keeping his promise to celebrated playwright Ivy Ho (岸西), of Comrades, Almost a Love Story (甜蜜蜜) and Divergence (三岔口) fame, To, who is known for shooting films without complete scripts, sticks to Ho's original composition, including feminine perspectives. The end result is a departure from To's sharp and pungent vocabulary to a style that is mild and sensitive.
The film is well cast. Taiwan's Chou succeeds in his silver screen debut, coming off as a lovable Prince Charming with a troubled past. Seasoned Chinese actor Yong presents a few good tear-jerking moments in the film as a father who has deep regrets. Leading lady Li also lives up to expectations by bringing out the dramatic and psychological intensity required for her role.
Though Linger is a romance flick through and through, audiences should expect more than the usual slobbery story about a lost lover. In To's romance, love goes hand-in-hand with unresolved anger, guilt and forgiveness and is open to the oscillations of genuine human emotions. The father-and-son relationship, though a side story, adds dramatic tension to the film in a way that touches the heart.
A love story told through seamless transitions and editing that threads through the present and past, underworld and mortal realm, Linger is as unexpected as it is charming.
In recent weeks the Trump Administration has been demanding that Taiwan transfer half of its chip manufacturing to the US. In an interview with NewsNation, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that the US would need 50 percent of domestic chip production to protect Taiwan. He stated, discussing Taiwan’s chip production: “My argument to them was, well, if you have 95 percent, how am I gonna get it to protect you? You’re going to put it on a plane? You’re going to put it on a boat?” The stench of the Trump Administration’s mafia-style notions of “protection” was strong
Every now and then, it’s nice to just point somewhere on a map and head out with no plan. In Taiwan, where convenience reigns, food options are plentiful and people are generally friendly and helpful, this type of trip is that much easier to pull off. One day last November, a spur-of-the-moment day hike in the hills of Chiayi County turned into a surprisingly memorable experience that impressed on me once again how fortunate we all are to call this island home. The scenery I walked through that day — a mix of forest and farms reaching up into the clouds
With one week left until election day, the drama is high in the race for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chair. The race is still potentially wide open between the three frontrunners. The most accurate poll is done by Apollo Survey & Research Co (艾普羅民調公司), which was conducted a week and a half ago with two-thirds of the respondents party members, who are the only ones eligible to vote. For details on the candidates, check the Oct. 4 edition of this column, “A look at the KMT chair candidates” on page 12. The popular frontrunner was 56-year-old Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文)
Oct. 13 to Oct. 19 When ordered to resign from her teaching position in June 1928 due to her husband’s anti-colonial activities, Lin Shih-hao (林氏好) refused to back down. The next day, she still showed up at Tainan Second Preschool, where she was warned that she would be fired if she didn’t comply. Lin continued to ignore the orders and was eventually let go without severance — even losing her pay for that month. Rather than despairing, she found a non-government job and even joined her husband Lu Ping-ting’s (盧丙丁) non-violent resistance and labor rights movements. When the government’s 1931 crackdown
RSS