Cannot Live Without You (2009)

A down and out man and his daughter live in an illegal hovel. The two live a happy peaceful life until the authorities intervene when the child reaches school age.

Director:

Leon Dai

Writer:

Leon Dai

Stars:

Yo Hsuan Chao, Akira Chen, Chih-Ju Lin

18 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Yo Hsuan Chao
Akira Chen	...	(as Wen-pin Chen)
Chih-Ju Lin
Sze-Chi Lo
Ting-Ni Ma	...	Director of Social Welfare

Storyline

A father's love for his child is unconditional, a bond that can't be broken. But sometimes government bureaucracy can interfere. Li Wu-hisung lives in a harbor zone in Taiwan with his small daughter. He doesn't have a job, so he takes on risky tasks on boats to earn money. When he tries to do the right thing and enroll his daughter in a school, the government decides it's in the child's best interest to remove her from his care. He does everything he can to get her back, leading to a desperate standoff in front of the media and the world. Based on a true story, it conveys a quest of love that knows no bounds.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Taiwan

Language:

Hakka Min Nan Mandarin

Release Date:

14 August 2009 (Taiwan)

Also Known As:

Cannot Live Without You

Company Credits

Production Co:

Partyzoo Film, Luminoso Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is Leon Dai's 2nd feature film. It's adapted from a real event happened in Taiwan.

User Reviews

Intrigues sympathy, but not much empathy.

Let me start by saying I like this movie. Despite the small budget, this is a well written, well directed and beautifully acted movie. Can't quite get the idea of black-and-white photography, but it's properly executed giving a realistic image of the industrialized city of Kaohsiung.

This movie also reminds us other Taiwanese films made by Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang. Like them, the director told a true story, and I'm sure many viewers had shed their tears for the sad experiences that the loving father and daughter had gone through. However, unlike Hou or Yang's work, this story is more based on a unique and somewhat ridiculous event. Despite true and sad, it's hard to give us more to think about other than feeling sympathetic.

This is the director's debut film. He's not yet Hou or Yang, but we have good reasons to believe that there is a lot we could expect from his future work.