A deaf man decided to cycle around Taiwan before graduating from college.A deaf man decided to cycle around Taiwan before graduating from college.A deaf man decided to cycle around Taiwan before graduating from college.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 3 nominations
Danny Deng
- The Director
- (as An-ning Teng)
Saya Chang
- The Maiden Sayon - in dream sequence
- (as Hwei-chun Chang)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was the official representative of Taiwan to the 80th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Taiwan's national Film Board has originally selected Lust, Caution (2007) to represent the island, but when that film was disqualified on a technicality, Taiwan was given a matter of hours to select a new film - and they went with "Island Etude".
Featured review
A beautiful bore
I may have missed something (as the other reviewers seem so be pretty enthusiastic) but I definitely feel my 108 minutes wasted. And I watch cycle touring video-journals quite often as this is one of my hobbies...
This is a film made by an excellent cameraman who thought he does not need a director, professional actors or a decent script. (Reminds me to the airplane mechanic from "Murphy's War" who thought he knows so much about planes, he surely will be able to fly one at the first try.) There is enough raw material there for a good National Geographic article ("Student Cycles the Beautiful Coast of Taiwan Alone") with lots of stunning views of nature and a glimpse of a hard-working island -- but not enough for a feature film. And the professional cinematography made me constantly waiting for something more dramatic, I was not able to view this the way I view ordinary cycle touring videos. The lack of handlebar-mounted camera view, so frequent in that genre, makes this feel even less like a cycling documentary. (This is shot in third-person view most of the time.)
As for a real road movie, this must be the most boring one ever made. The young hero's character does not ever change (well, it is only seven days) and it was not too interesting to begin with: always easy-going, content with everything. He meets totally uninteresting people, with the possible exception of the old amateur sculptor (but he appears only in the last minutes). The historical events recalled are mildly interesting at best. And do not let the presence of a guitar make you expect a strong musical score!
This is a film made by an excellent cameraman who thought he does not need a director, professional actors or a decent script. (Reminds me to the airplane mechanic from "Murphy's War" who thought he knows so much about planes, he surely will be able to fly one at the first try.) There is enough raw material there for a good National Geographic article ("Student Cycles the Beautiful Coast of Taiwan Alone") with lots of stunning views of nature and a glimpse of a hard-working island -- but not enough for a feature film. And the professional cinematography made me constantly waiting for something more dramatic, I was not able to view this the way I view ordinary cycle touring videos. The lack of handlebar-mounted camera view, so frequent in that genre, makes this feel even less like a cycling documentary. (This is shot in third-person view most of the time.)
As for a real road movie, this must be the most boring one ever made. The young hero's character does not ever change (well, it is only seven days) and it was not too interesting to begin with: always easy-going, content with everything. He meets totally uninteresting people, with the possible exception of the old amateur sculptor (but he appears only in the last minutes). The historical events recalled are mildly interesting at best. And do not let the presence of a guitar make you expect a strong musical score!
helpful•11
- gergelyh-15596
- Sep 22, 2016
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $268,145
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
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