Xiao shi de qing ren jie

Structure of the story and light-hearted yet profound music play significant roles in this "quiet" romantic comedy that shines, which is a rare case even in Chinese-language cinema. (Although most of the dialogue is done in Mandarin, most of the humor lies not verbally, or precisely speaking, also lies not on Taiwanese the local dialect.) Comedic timing was almost pure and perfect for me until I was surprised by my tears when I saw a man showing up onto the night bus in that semi-philosophical sequence towards the end of the movie. All of a sudden, I realized it's way more than a comedy. Wow!

"Love yourself well, because someone out there has been in love with you." As this shows up on screen like a last missing piece for this poetic modern fantasy about love and lost and found... I feel happily relieved, and of course, heart-warmed. It feels like watching Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain years ago.

My Missing Valentine is made with the acknowledgment that romantic comedies are super hard to make well. Romantic comedy, arguably speaking, is the most formulaic genre. The guy and the girl meet, fall for each other, fight through their differences and end up together. Its simplicity just so happens to be its difficulty. Taiwanese Director Chen Yu-hsun tackles the genre with an artistic ambition and shakes up the rom-com formula with a central mystery.

The story is about Yang Hsiao-chi, who has always been one step ahead of everybody at anything and as an unfortunate side effect, has been out of sync with the world around her. She works as a postal worker in Taipei and longs to be in a relationship.

On the eve of Valentine's Day, a handsome dance teacher Liu Wen-sen asks Yang out, but much to her surprise, she wakes up the next morning realizing Valentine's Day has passed without her.

Chen Yu-hsun's script cleverly spins the traditional rom-com meet-cute and keeps the audience guessing. The audience does not know what is happening as the typical rom-com sequence is out of wack. We don't even know who the couple we are supposed to be rooting for is. As things are pursued and revealed, the mood becomes increasingly romantic and the film charmingly whisks you away into its magical reality with surprises in store.

Newcomer Patty Lee, a TV presenter, has great comedic timing. She plays her character's yearning in an adorable believable way and shows great range in her interplay with male co-stars Liu Kuan-ting and Duncan Chow.

The production design cleverly uses indie comedy quirks and its available resources to create something relatively epic for its story. Our heroine yearningly listens to a dating-themed radio show that wheels in and literally manifests behind her apartment window. When the story shifts from the cityscape of Taipei to the ocean town of Dongshi, there is a genuine cathartic release and a romantic atmosphere emanates.

My Missing Valentine is a cute feel-good movie that is executed with craft and an eye for detail. I would recommend it to any movie fan dying for a good romantic comedy during the lockdown and wouldn't mind reading subtitles. The Taiwanese accent has a deadpan cartoon quality that is inherently comedic-sounding which I believe will come through for English speakers.

I intend to see it again myself. I mistakenly watched it with no Chinese subtitles thinking it'd be in Mandarin but there was a lot of Taiwanese that is spoken that went over my head.

This is my favorite Chinese language film in 2021 thus far. It's been nominated in many categories at the Golden Horse awards and could possibly stay on my Top Ten by the end of the year.

The storyline is rich and entertaining and touching. It's a love story with some mysterious sci fic parts involved. With all different themes put in a movie it's surprising natural and good. The touching part exist as well. Like a topnotch fusion dish. Quite special Taiwan movie.

A great opportunity to watch local Taiwanese daily living. I also enjoy the comedy part and how real the communication between actors.

"But no, A Tai is too diffident to do that, instead he must conjure up a tortuous way to let her know his feelings, including the crucial Valentine's Day, the world stops stock-still except for him (, and later, another slowpoke turns out to be Hsiao-Chi's father (seasoned musician Ayugo Huang, civilly lends a philosophical tone to his character's reprehensible deeds), who has deserted his family years ago. But in this day and age, A Tai's innocent manhandling of a puppet-like Hsiao-Chi could easily evoke discomfort for those who are too powerless to refuse a man's inappropriate advances, it only adds creepiness to A Tai's obsession, luckily he is a good guy, but his dicey behavior cannot be OKed for the sake of Chen's romantic notion. If you like a woman, just let her know, please, and any body contact without both parties' consensus is categorically unacceptable."

read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, thanks.