A Brighter Summer Day 1991
A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.
A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.
A retired and widowed Chinese master chef Chu and his family live in modern day Taipei, Taiwan. He lives with his three attractive daughters, all of whom are unattached. Soon, each of the daughters encounter new men in their lives. When these new relationships blossom, stereotypes are broken and the living situation within the family changes.
Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries. NJ is morose: his brother owes him money, his mother is in a coma, his wife suffers a spiritual crisis when she finds her life a blank and his business partners make bad decisions.
Presumed dead, master con artist and recovering amnesiac Dorothy is discovered by Shanghai Longu-bang, a mob who wants payback for her conning them. With no memories and nowhere to go, she must rely on a local crime underboss to elude Taipei's criminal underworld all while tracking down leads to her mysterious past.
An uncompromising look into urban life from the eyes of a voyeuristic photographer, a rebellious teenager, and a married couple teetering on the edge of adultery.
Defying his parents, disaffected youth Hsiao Kang drops out of the local cram school to head for the bright lights of downtown Taipei. He meets Ah Tze, a young hoodlum, and their relationship is a confused mixture of hero-worship and rivalry that soon leads to trouble.
A young woman urgently seeks to navigate the maze of contemporary Taipei and find a future. She hopes that her boyfriend Lung is the key to the future, but Lung is stuck in a past that combines baseball and traditional loyalty that leads him to squander his nest egg bailing her father out of financial trouble.
On a dark and rainy night, a historic and regal Taipei cinema sees its final film: 1967 martial arts feature "Dragon Inn". As the film plays, the lives of the theater's various employees and patrons intersect, and two ghostly actors arrive to mourn the passing of an era.
Winston Chen, a prominent businessman, goes missing after racking up $100 million in debts to the Taipei underworld. Two enforcers sent to find him, and they track down his son, Red Fish, the leader of a street gang.
In this portrait of small-time hoods rendered in rhythm-of-life anecdotal detail, Gao is the leader of a circle of layabouts including his sidekick, Flathead, and their girlfriends, Pretzel and Ling. He is also the originator of petty crime schemes, which promise to get the gang nowhere fast.
Fei works illegally as a hustler in order to support his family, yet when he realizes they are willing to accept his money but not his way of life, there is a major breakdown in their relations. Through his relationship to the headstrong Long, Fei seems able to find a new lease on life, but then he encounters Xiaolai, the love of his youth, who confronts him with the guilt of his repressed past.
A bachelor who decides to propose to his girlfriend with his mother's ring only to have the ring accidentally knocked into the gutter by a boy. He experiences the crazy nightlife in Taipei and meets many interesting individuals throughout his mission to get the ring back.
Doris simply wanted to open a refined, stylish coffee shop in a bohemian Taipei neighborhood, but when she's stuck with a load of useless gifts from the opening celebration, her younger sister Josie turns the café into a burgeoning bartering business. There, even a soulful song (by Japanese singer Atari Kosuke in a cameo) is a tradable commodity. One day, a traveler brings in 35 soaps from around the world with a story for each of them, awakening Doris' imagination about the outside world that she has never seen.
May, a woman singer from the mainland of China, suddenly loses her voice and has conflicts with Ah Lei, her producer and secret lover. In anger she goes to Old Town of Jingtong where she meets Xiao Mo, a warmhearted man. Xia Mo helps May find a place to stay, and finds her work at local restaurant. May finds happiness and consolation in the old streets of the small town, and her voice gets better and better.
Liang Ruoqing is a girl who, after being lied to and dumped by her ideal high-school boyfriend Ai Ren, develops love phobia and vows to never fall in love again. However, she meets a handsome doctor Lu Zhehan at her grandfather's hospital. Lu Zhehan seems to be the perfect guy but since she doesn't believe in "perfect" anymore, she thinks that he is too good to be true. Her new journey begins when she tries to show to all of the women that this doctor is not as good as everyone thinks he is, but fate is playing a trick on her. The more she tries to uncover his hidden evil nature, the more she discovers that he may be the right guy to cure her love phobia.
Hao, a chubby gay man, works as a janitor at a gay spa. For him, romantic relationships are an unreachable dream. One day, an attractive customer, Kai, walks into the place, and Hao has the opportunity to massage him.
Three young souls, with different purposes, comes to the coast and search for the meaning of their life, a journey considerably longer than any of them has taken before.
Even in modern-day Taipei, women feel the societal pressure to get married and have children before the clock runs out. Thankfully, there is a solution: freeze your eggs and prolong your fertility until the right one comes along! Starring Ariel Lin, the film is a glimpse of what millions of working women struggle with: finding the balance between pursuing a career and marriage.
A young woman wandering around meets a young man going to a casting call for a pornographic film.
I enjoy religion, I appreciate belief systems and how they offer structure to people's lives. I also appreciate how spirituality manifests itself in Asian cultures as this almost earthbound presence guiding people through every day life and when they need an extra bit of help they need only ask whichever deity holds dominion over their desire. Here is an experimental film I made with videos from my iPhone. Shot across Taiwan and South Korea. An experimental film I made with videos from my iPhone. Shot across Taiwan and Korea. My aim was to explore success in how it pertains to every day life, the satisfaction of small moments, spirituality, superstition, and daily rituals.
When a mysterious enemy targets his family, a Taipei triad member heads to Los Angeles to protect his strong-willed mother and oblivious younger brother.
In the red light district of 1980s Taipei, women at a popular Japanese night club navigate jealousy, heartbreak, friendship and love.
A Taipei doctor and a San Francisco engineer swap homes in a daring pact, embarking on journeys filled with trials, secrets and unexpected encounters.