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Taipei Story

Original title: Qing mei zhu ma
  • 19851985
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 59m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
3.3K
YOUR RATING
Taipei Story (1985)
Clip: The United States
Play clip2:27
Watch Taipei Story
1 Video
48 Photos
Drama
Lung is a former member of the national Little League team who lives with his old childhood sweetheart Ah-chin, a traditional family woman. Although they live together, Ah-chin is weary of L... Read allLung is a former member of the national Little League team who lives with his old childhood sweetheart Ah-chin, a traditional family woman. Although they live together, Ah-chin is weary of Lung's past liaison with another girl.Lung is a former member of the national Little League team who lives with his old childhood sweetheart Ah-chin, a traditional family woman. Although they live together, Ah-chin is weary of Lung's past liaison with another girl.
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
3.3K
YOUR RATING
    • Edward Yang
    • T'ien-wen Chu
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    • Edward Yang
  • Stars
    • Chin Tsai
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    • I-Chen Ko
    • Edward Yang
    • T'ien-wen Chu
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    • Edward Yang
  • Stars
    • Chin Tsai
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    • I-Chen Ko
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 6User reviews
    • 23Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Taipei Story
    Clip 2:27
    Watch Taipei Story

    Photos48

    Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Hsiao-Hsien Hou in Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)
    Taipei Story (1985)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Chin Tsai
    Chin Tsai
    • Chin
    Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    • Lung
    I-Chen Ko
    I-Chen Ko
    • Mr. Ke
    Su-Yun Ko
    Su-Yun Ko
    • Gwan
    Nien-Jen Wu
    Nien-Jen Wu
    • Taxi driver
    Hsiu-Ling Lin
    • A-Ling
    Shu-Fang Chen
    Shu-Fang Chen
    • Mrs. Mei
    Te-Nan Lai
    • Coach
    De-ming Lyu
    Fang Mei
    Fang Mei
    • Chin's mother
    Peng Sun
    Peng Sun
    Nai-Chu Ting
    Ping-Nan Wu
    Ping-Nan Wu
    • Chin's father
    Li-Yin Yang
    Li-Yin Yang
    • Qin
    Shu-yao Yang
    Shi Zhang
      • Edward Yang
      • T'ien-wen Chu
      • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
      • Edward Yang
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #879.
    • Quotes

      Lung: He killed someone once. A black person. Later the police came and he was acquitted. He said that in the States, if you see a suspicious person in your yard, and if you can shoot them dead, drag them into your house and plant an unregistered gun on them. They call it self-defense. You're not guilty.

    • Connections
      Featured in Century of Cinema: Naamsaang-neuiseung (1998)
    • Soundtracks
      Baby Be Mine
      (uncredited)

      Written by Rod Temperton

      Performed by Michael Jackson

    User reviews6

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    That little wind-up Pepsi-Cola toy is the best. And this film is amazing
    This is a quiet, caring, patiently observed film about that most difficult thing to make into interesting drama: the everyday lives of basically decent and normal people, in this case an on/off again couple as played by Chin Tsai (why wasn't in she more films, I wonder, she makes a good impression here) and Hsiao-Hsien Hou (usually a director, also quite excelleng), who have to navigate the loss of and seeking employment, heavily flawed family (a debt-addled dad for her, wayward and ultimately tragic brother for him), and what atmosphere a city like Taipei, so bustling and at night neon-drenched and polluted and seemingly full of (as Yang and company show) self-interested middle class people. It gives empathy for everyone, and let's scenes breathe.

    I think it's understandable if this isn't someone's cup of tea, but on the other hand it isn't perhaps a keen idea to see this before the other Yang heavy-hitters like Yi Yi or Brighter Summer Day: this has somehow even *less* incident than that - if anything, at least for what is about the first 45-50 minutes, Yang as a storyteller reaches the apex of George Costanza's pitch of a "show about nothing... what did you do this morning?" I got up and went to work" "There's a show" on Seinfeld - but I was invested in these people precisely because Yang doesn't gum up things with anything approaching cliche or convention.

    It's stripped down so that that actors can bring their own life and lived-in experience (Lung's weariness and discontent, a face Hou brings in almost every other scene and, whether conscious or not, adds immeasurably to this being as great and pained and sad as it is), and he and the DP find dozens of wonderful ways to shoot this city, in interior and exterior, so that we can understand innately what it's like to be there, in those office rooms, the bars, that bedroom, then on those streets and the FUJI-FILM backlit roof) without calling much attention to the style. It's seamless, meditative, yet totally natural at the same time.

    And that ending... it made me feel like had I seen this when I was younger (ie my first big bursts of making short films in college) it would have inspired me to want to get a camera and shoot something like this. In a strange way it is inspirational in that it's not necessary to add the same old Screenwriting 101 stuff you get taught so often. This is more about capturing a mood, of being on a street at night with just a couple of those overhead lights and that solitude and aloneness. It didn't happen all at once but I loved this one.
    helpful•4
    0
    • Quinoa1984
    • Mar 30, 2021

    Details

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    • Release date
      • 1985 (Taiwan)
      • Taiwan
      • Official site (Japan)
      • Min Nan
      • Mandarin
      • Hokkien
    • Also known as
    • Production company
      • Evergreen Film Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 59 minutes
      • Color
      • Mono

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