對不起,我愛你 - Su Mi Ma Sen, Love

對不起,我愛你 (Su mi ma sen, Love) is a 2009 film out of Taiwan starring Chie Tanaka and Wu Huai-Chung. They actually play themselves in the film.

Chie Tanaka, hot off the heels of Cape No. 7 is a model in Taipei from Japan that goes to Kaohsiung for a day off to recharge. Wu is a movie store and parts worker that journals his life. Wu noticed Chie at the movie store and chase begins. There is a certain purse that gets lost, a $500 dollar bill that plays into "fate". They meet up again in a church and the day spent around Kaohsiung begins. Along the way, they talk, get to know each other. Do they fall in love at the end? You'll have to watch and see.

Running in a brisk 73 minutes, it was a short and sweet film. I'll be honest, I was quite bored at the 45 minute mark and was ready to stop. But the last portions of the film brought it home and made up for it. It's a slow film, no doubt about it, but it's with a purpose.

Chie's Chinese seems to be better in this film, than in Cape No. 7. I wonder how much longer she's gonna want to do Chinese films.

海角七號 - Cape No. 7

I picked up 海角七號 (Cape No. 7) at a local entertainment store with English Subs recently. The majority of 海角七號 is in Taiwanese, so I knew I had to have a version with English subtitles. I've had the China version for a few weeks now, but couldn't understand it as the movie starts in Japanese and runs mostly in Taiwanese. Only about 25% of the movie is in Mandarin, of which is the only other language I know besides English. Even though the main female protagonist speaks in Mandarin and Japanese and does not understand Taiwanese.

The movie is about the formation of a band to open up for an Japanese artist. A local hotel has a beach stage set up for this special event. Local tough guy 洪國榮 and crew are unhappy with the hotel. Specifically how the hotel came to 恆春鎮 (Hengchun) and the townspeople are not benefitting. They find out about the concert and want an opening band to be made up of locals to represent. The search starts and a makeshift group of unique personalities eventually is chosen to form the band. Tomoko is tasked with making this locals' band is presentable. In the backdrop of all this is the story of a address from 60 years past, 海角七號. Which was an address in the 40s, but in modern day Taiwan, it has lost its place.

I've been anticipating this film since the summer and when it was No. 1 in the Taipei films charts for over a month, it added to the hype. I really wanted to catch it at the LA Taiwan Film Festival a couple of weeks back, because of its English Subs.

Did it ever live up to expectations. It was slow to start, but finishes strong. The character development was pretty good and each was developed to move the story along. In the end, I was highly satisfied and proud of that this film is representing the Taiwan film industry.