Those who were high schoolers in late 1990s Taiwan will definitely feel a special connection with Take Me to the Moon, especially fans of singer-songwriter Chang Yu-sheng (張雨生), who died at age 31 in a car crash in 1997.
Disclaimer: this reviewer fits both criteria, and it was a bit hard to fight through the various welling emotions to remain impartial for this review. But this shows that the movie captured the essence of that time well, and it will surely bank on nostalgia for a big part of its box office receipts.
But for those who don’t have the same experience, it’s probably another well-produced but rather run-of-the-mill, time-traveling tale about youth, unrequited love and chasing one’s dreams — a favorite topic with mainstream Taiwanese filmmakers. There’s also plenty of Chang references, so perhaps some homework is required before watching for those unfamiliar with his music.
Photo courtesy of Shine Time Entertainment
While the film is nothing groundbreaking, it is entertaining nevertheless, with decent pacing, balanced acting and a fairly solid plot with just a few holes, which is a feat because time-traveling stories often baffle audiences. It’s far from perfect though, especially the rushed ending, but it is a fairy tale after all.
With a title lifted directly from Chang’s 1992 hit song, Take Me to the Moon (帶我去月球) is set in 1997 and features a Chang cover band on the eve of high school graduation. To prevent a bleak future for lead singer En-pei (Vivian Sung, 宋芸樺), guitarist Cheng-hsiang (Jasper Liu, 劉以豪) travels back 20 years to essentially sabotage her efforts to become a pop star. Hijinks ensue as he resorts to desperate measures to stop her from going to an audition, while trying to convince his friends that he came from the future.
UNTAPPED TALENT
Photo courtesy of Shine Time Entertainment
Through 2014’s Cafe. Waiting. Love (等一個人咖啡) and 2015’s Our Times (我的少女時代), Sung has become a darling of mainstream youth dramedies, and she continues to play the role well. It would be nice to see her take on more of a variety of roles as the talent seems to be there, but unfortunately her next film is still a romantic comedy set on a college campus. This is Liu’s second time playing a lead role in a feature film, and he also does a solid job handling the nuances of being a 38-year-old man in an 18-year-old body.
Lu Hsueh-feng (呂雪鳳), who won a Golden Horse for her supporting role in the 2015 blockbuster Thanatos, Drunk (醉.生夢死), is somewhat limited in this film as the archetypal magical crazy lady who facilitates Cheng-hsiang’s time travel. Her role seems somewhat forced and stereotypical here, which doesn’t give her talent justice.
Much attention is put into recreating 1997, starting from the popular high school hangout of Ximending (西門町) to pop culture references, the icing on the cake being the use of NT$50 bills (it seems like they made the characters’ taxi fare in one scene NT$150 just for this purpose). Twenty years doesn’t seem like a long time, but those who went through that period will pick up all the subtle references.
Ultimately, it’s an ode to Chang, who died 20 years ago last month. His work became darker and more mature in his final years, but he started out as the clean-cut boy next door with a high-pitched Air Supply voice who wrote about innocent love (Thinking of You Everyday, 天天想你) and chasing your dreams (My Future is Not a Dream, 我的未來不是夢) — exactly the themes in this movie.
Reprised versions of Chang’s songs constitute the bulk of the soundtrack, many of them covered by Sung, and fans are treated to a painstakingly recreated version of his final concert. It’s surprising to find out that instead of using old footage of Chang, the filmmakers actually cast local folk rocker Birdman (日京江羽人) as Chang and used 3D technology to make the scene. Birdman, who does bear a resemblance to Chang, reportedly spent more than 100 hours watching footage in order to learn his mannerisms, and one can barely tell that it’s not the real person.
Chang’s career was full of ups and downs as he tried to move away from mainstream pop, later being forced to compromise as his experimental album (by Taiwanese pop standards) flopped. He later found success as a producer before his life was cut short.
It’s not easy pursuing one’s dreams, even after you make it big like Chang, this film seems to say. It is truly a fitting tribute to a lost talent.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
RSS