I have always wanted to open a coffee shop and naturally when I saw this film it had touched my heart. What is the value and objective in life, this is the main theme of the film. Saving money, said the elder sister played by Kwei. I wanted to travel round the world, said the younger. At the end of the movie, the objectives of life of the two sisters swapped and their mother nagged of their changes. But there is no change, said the taxi-driver, one daughter wants saving money and the other want travelling around the world.
I read a book that says there are three main objectives in life: security, meaning and novelty. The difference is your priority. If you want saving money, you seek security and if you want to travel around the world, you seek for novelty. Romance, well, meaning of life.
But then there are the exchanges - the 36 stories for each soap collected from around the world in 36 cities. Exchanges mean swapping your value system with some one else. No man is an island. I like the exchanges part of the movie, be it romantic exchange or money exchange or barter - change of commodity.
Taipei Exchange is a light-hearted but a soul-searching journey and a nice exchange with the director. And of course, the like the part of opening and operating a coffee shop too.
