The question posed in the title of this Taiwanese light hearted Rom. Com. refers to two couples in their 30’s who have reached a crossroads in their relationships. Wei-chung and Feng have been happily married for nine years. They have a six year old son, live in a nice apartment, and he has just been made Manager in the Opticians he works at, and Feng is about to promoted to Team Leader in her Office.
Mandy, Wei-chung’s younger sister, has finally met a man she wants to marry, San-san, but it’s at their engagement party that things start to unravel. Wei-chung runs into Stephen the wedding photographer, who is a blast from his gay past. Stephen is also married, but to a lesbian as a marriage of convenience ….. evidently something of a necessity still in Taiwanese society today despite a large gay community.
Seeing Stephen stirs up memories of the life he gave up to marry Feng, and when she starts making overtures about having another baby, Wei-chung flees into the night in a panic. Meanwhile when Mandy catches sight of her reflection in a supermarket window when she is out shopping with her fiance, and can just see a whole life of domesticity ahead, she also panics and runs off leaving San-san just standing there.
Both couples have to make choices especially when Wei-chung feels a stirring in his loins when a handsome young Flight Attendant comes into the Store and flirts with him, and very soon after that they are spotted out together by Feng. Meanwhile Mandy has locked herself in her apartment watching cheesy soap operas all day and rejecting all San-san’s pleas to go back to him, until she finds out she is pregnant. The decisions that the siblings make are based on what they believe is the moral thing to do, but it is their erstwhile partners who insist that they should all follow their hearts instead to move forward.
There is a endearing old-fashioned feel to this gentle charming movie with its wonderful touches of humor. Totally devoid of any melodrama or any moral/political message, its not so much a coming-out story but more a tale of waking up and accepting who you are so that the people you love can also have the life that they want too. And also appreciating the simple fact that life rarely turns out the way you planned it.
Written and directed American/Taiwanese filmmaker Arvin Chen who used a very talented and famous cast of Asian actors who, without exception, gave wonderfully credible and convincing performances.
Its a delightful feel-good movie that may not actually prompt you to change your life, but it will tempt you to see if you can sing the title song at karaoke as well as Feng! Well, it did me.
★★★★★★★★
Labels: gay, romantic comedy, Taiwanese
