A film as if in a dream. The ‘moonlight boy’ of the title is 13-year-old Wang Qi Zan, who does not reawaken from a coma after having an accident. However his soul still visibly haunts his family; a surrealist detail that is worked out with restraint yet with all possible means. For instance, Yu did not eschew adding a cartoon character to the boy’s world.From this unusual perspective, Yu shows us a revealing picture of an apparently happy and harmonious family. The 18-year-old daughter Caroline Lu is a talented music student, but an affair with a teacher and drug use propel her into a profound crisis. Her elder sister Ni Shu Jun has become an all too fanatical believer. The mother surrenders herself entirely to caring forthe vegetating body of Wang and the father takes refuge in his work.The film moves just as easily between life and death as through time: from the moment of Wang’s accident in 1965 to the present and back again.Moonlight Boy has a special place in Taiwanese film production, both through its idiosyncratic form and the fact that the film was made independently and on a minimal budget.
