In less than half a dozen years, Taiwanese actor Doze Niu Chen-zer has developed a directing career that makes the Coen Brothers or Bong Joon-ho look like filmmakers with a tendency to repeat themselves. For his third feature, Love, Doze has delivered a multiple strand love story that has been fashionable since the (inexplicable) international success of Richard Curtis’ Love Actually. If you haven’t made the connection yet, Doze’s previous film was the tough-minded youth gang film Monga, which gives an idea of the artistic jump required. It’s as if prior to Love Actually Curtis had filmed Goodfellas.
A fine ensemble cast populate the engaging, if undemanding, interlocking stories. The film opens with winsome cyclist Yijia (Chen Yi-han) finding out that she’s pregnant to Kai (Eddie Peng), the boyfriend of her best friend Ni (Amber Kuo). Ni is the spoilt daughter of a rich wannabe playboy (director Doze) who uses his substantial wealth to wrap model Zoe Fang (Shu Qi) – and others – around his well-manicured finger. Zoe is looking for greater meaning in her relationships and after failing to find it with the emotionally unavailable younger businessman Mark Na (Mark Chao), she is given pause by a young stuttering waiter Kuan (Juan Ching-tien) – who also happens to be Yijia’s brother.
All of these stories crisscross class lines in Taipei, but in a reflection of the film’s co-funding by Mainland China powerhouse studio Huayi Brothers, Mark’s romance takes him to Beijing where finds himself reluctantly entangled in the chaotic life of the world’s most disorganised real estate agent, Ms Jin (Zhao Wei).
Doze’s script (written with his regular collaborator with Tseng Li-ting and newcomer Qian Wang) comes perilously close to moving from romance to ridicule, as some scenarios sometimes hinge on excessive coincidence. While the plot strands may be difficult to swallow, the actors successfully build on the affectionate manner in which the script regards them to deliver believable characterisations. The film also possesses a skilful ability to pluck a joke out of thin air, just before the melodrama starts to take itself too seriously. Wang Jingchun in a supporting role as a no nonsense cop is pricelessly funny just when the film needs it.
If there’s anything Love has in common with Monga it’s that the two Taipei-set films are commercially slick. (Incidentally, Doze’s first film What On Earth Have I Done Wrong!? was a cheap, self-referential video diary mockumentary.) Taiwanese cinema, as the festival circuit attests, has a fondness for wistful multi-strand romances, but this is more robust and more professional. And with its twenty-something characters Love has less adolescent angst than similarly designed Taiwanese films.
The crowning glory on this delightful confection is the beautiful cinematography of Taiwanese born cameraman Lee Pingbin (aka Mark Lee). Best known to Western audiences for his work on Wong Kar-wai’ In the Mood for Love (replacing Christopher Doyle when that Australian cameraman fell out with the director). This isn’t his best work (try Jiang Wen’s The Sun Also Rises and Tian Zhuangzhuang’s remake of Springtime in a Small Town), but here his camera encapsulates the breezy soul of Taipei and perfectly compliments the efforts of the actors and the script’s aims.
Watch 'Love'
Monday 28 September, 12:00PM on SBS VICELAND (streaming after at SBS On Demand)
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Taiwan, 2012
Director: Doze Niu
Starring: Shu Qi, Vicki Zhao,Mark Chao, Wei Zhao
