漂浪青春 - Drifting Flowers

漂浪青春 (Drifting Flowers) is a 2008 film out of Taiwan. The movie is made by the same director of Spider Lilies, Zero Chou. The movie is broken up into 3 story arcs and are connected in a non linear fashion. The movie stars Serena Fang, Pai Chih-ying, Chao Yi-lan, Lu Yi-Ching, Sam Wang, and Herb Hsu.



The first arc is about pair of sisters that live on their own. The elder sister is blind and works as a singer in a nightclub. The younger sister is a second grader. The younger sister leads her sister to work each night and has started to fall behind at school. Prompting social services to investigate and to suggest foster care for the younger sister. An accordionist has recently started at the nightclub and enters the two sisters life. The younger sister fantasizes about a love relationship with the accordionist. But in real life, the accordionist falls for the elder sister, causing a rife between the two sisters. The result is the younger sister going to a foster family.



The second story is about Lily, who's come down with Alzheimer. Yen, Lily's husband has come to visit and ends up staying due to his AIDs. The two form a strange bond.



The third arc tells the coming of age story of Diego, from the first story arc. Diego and Yen from the second story arc are close friends. Diego grows up in a puppet troupe and has entertainment in her blood. Lily from the second arc is a performer in a competing troupe and strikes up a bond with Diego.

The movie has a running theme of a train on tracks drifting. As the movie ends, characters from all three arcs are on the train, but time isn't in continuum.

I was drawn to the movie by the trailer which highlighted Serena Fang, the elder sister in the first arc. The song and the premise of her blindness. I didn't know this was a lesbian film until I started watching. In all, the stories are coming of age stories at different times in life. You might come of age in certain stages but grow out of age as you drift to the next stage.