The film has a spectacular visual form. Both the editing and camera work are virtuoso. The more than mobile camera was entrusted to Dutch film maker Leonard Retel Helmrich, who often works in Indonesia. He has developed a style of shooting in which tempo and suppleness come together – the opposite of handheld.
The film is about youth and all of the accompanying doubts and exuberance. It focuses on three pretty girls: Angel (Yao Angel), Xiao Bu (Lee Amiya) and Amy (Liao Chien-Hui). They flutter through the film, making the story also seem to flutter every which way. It is as if the teller of the tale is intoxicated. Only when one submits to this do pieces of the puzzle fall into place here and there. The film maker chose what he calls a poetic order and not a chronological one. For him, the film is about time, memories and love. And if that’s experienced in fragments, then that’s how his film should be, too.
Not all of the dramas experienced by the girls are of the same order. Having an alcoholic father who only stares out the window does seem to be worse than having a cigarette taken away or finding pigeon shit on your clothes before you go out. In the life of a 17-year-old, though, everything can be a major drama. And that’s what the film shows exuberantly. (GjZ)
Film details
- Country of production
- Taiwan
- Year
- 2008
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2009
- Length
- 98'
- Medium/Format
- 35mm
