Reflections

Yao Hung-i, for years the regular assistant to Hou Hsiao-hsien, wrote, directed and was a cameraman prior to making his feature début. Reflections is above all a portrait of a young generation in Taipei. In a self-assured yet loose style, Yao sketches the individualism, the confusion and the uncertainty of the life of young people, focusing on a triangular relationship. The indirect narrative form leaves room for the ambiguous emotions and motivations of the protagonists. The background of the dynamic city seems to augment the loneliness of the characters. Jin is a singer in an underground rock band. She has a lesbian relationship with Mi. They have made an agreement that if one of them started dating a boy, their relationship would be over. Then Mi meets Hao and slowly starts to have an affair with him – something that makes her pretty nervous. A soothsayer has told her that she will meet someone who will love her a lot and Mi increasingly thinks that Hao is this person. Jin can feel Mi slipping out of her grasp. At the same time, she feels betrayed by her mother, who also has a new boyfriend. Jin becomes increasingly emotionally unstable, feeling more and more need of love and protection. Mi’s relationship with Hao makes her jealous and her revenge is bitter-sweet. (SdH)

• 

• 

•