More than 2,500 people in Taipei ushered in 2025 by attending an event on New Year’s Eve inspired by the crying scene in Vive l’amour (愛情萬歲), with local and foreign participants coming together to celebrate the emotional resonance of the iconic film.
The New Year’s Eve special screening of Taiwan-based Malaysian director Tsai Ming-liang’s (蔡明亮) award-winning film at Daan Forest Park’s outdoor stage commenced at 9:45pm and was followed by a countdown to midnight with Tsai, Yang Kuei-mei (楊貴媚) and Lee Kang-sheng (李康生) — the lead actress and actor in the movie.
The event was held in tribute to the two-hour drama, which ends with Yang walking to the park, which was then still under construction, alone, before bursting into tears on a bench by an outdoor stage in the early hours of a New Year’s Day, following a series of unfortunate events.
Photo: Liao Li-hui, Taipei Times
The scene, which lasts nearly seven minutes, has become an iconic moment for many film enthusiasts. Tsai also brought home the Golden Lion — the top prize at the Venice Film Festival in Italy — in 1994.
Before the screening, the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI), the main organizer, held special activities for the attending movie enthusiasts, distributing specially designed tissue packs with the words “do not crycry” on them and handing out sheets of paper for attendees to write down their most tearful moments this year.
Among those who participated in the event was Lucyna, a 25-year-old Polish student majoring in Taiwan Studies and a big fan of Tsai’s films.
“There is no better way to spend New Year’s Eve than watching this film at the very spot that it was shot — like the best scene in the history of cinema,” the National Taiwan Normal University student said.
Having based her undergraduate thesis on Tsai’s films, Lucyna said that she had watched Vive l’amour at least 20 times.
She particularly admired the film’s final crying scene, which she described as having “so many layers.”
“I wish movies were like that nowadays... Just speaking about it makes me so excited to see it again,” she added.
Yun Chen (陳婕云), an 18-year-old Taiwanese university student and a film lover, expressed her admiration for the film’s long takes, which she described as “conveying a sense of urban desolation and emptiness.”
“I think it’s incredibly fitting to use it [as a backdrop] for crying,” she said, adding that the pressures of being a university student in Taiwan often leave her overwhelmed, which might bring her to tears by the end of the screening.
As for her new year’s wish, Chen said she hopes to secure tickets to upcoming film festivals, particularly the Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival, which she eagerly looks forward to.
Although “cry” was the theme of the event, the audience frequently burst into laughter during the film’s lighter moments, with many seated on the grass surrounding the stage, as the seats closer to the stage were completely full.
The TFAI said that the event held “considerable significance” as last year marked the 30th anniversary of Vive l’amour and the completion of the park.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS