Story in Taipei

Not to be confused with Taipei Story.

Story in Taipei
promotional poster
Traditional Chinese	台北物語
Simplified Chinese	台北物语
Literal meaning	Taipei monogatari
Hanyu Pinyin	Táiběi wùyǔ
Directed by	Huang Ying-hsiung
Release date	May 19, 2017 (2017-05-19)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	Taiwan
Languages	Chinese Taiwanese

Story in Taipei (Chinese: 台北物語; pinyin: Táiběi Wùyǔ; also translated as Story of Taipei) is a 2017 Taiwanese film written and directed by Huang Ying-hsiung (黃英雄). It has been described as Taiwan's first cult film,[1] of the "so bad it's good" type.[2]

Plot

The somewhat convoluted plot involves a thief who steals a taxi, which is then boarded by a passenger. They are involved in an accident with a drunk-driving politician, who is having an affair with his assistant. Fearing scandal, he offers to buy the taxi and pay NT$500,000 in exchange for silence. The taxi-driving thief and his passenger try to blackmail the politician for more money. Unknown to them all, there is a person in the taxi's boot. The politician's wife, a doctor, starts investigating her husband's activities. At the end, all characters meet and a lot of issues are revealed, including that some other subplots were just made up stories.[2]

Cast

• Su Yinan (蘇尹男) as lawmaker Ke Xien
• Chen Yi-an (陳怡安) as Sun Ying, his wife
• Mina Lee [zh] (李宓) as Guo Xinchun, his assistant
• Oscar Chiu (邱志宇) as Tony, Sun Ying's colleague
• Zhang Zhehao [zh] (張哲豪) as Lin Xiaoqing, the thief
• Fu Peiling (傅佩玲) as Lin Qiuhong, the passenger who blackmails Ke Xien
• Fang Shengqiu (方升暘) as Ke's assistant
• Kang Luqi (康祿祺) as a builder

Reception

After opening in just three theaters in 2017, the film quickly became a social media phenomenon because of its flaws.[3] It achieved more than NT$5 million in box office receipts and played for 38 days.[2] It has been described as the lowest quality film in Taiwanese history[4] and compared to The Room.[5]

References

1. Eric. "越爛越賣？《台北物語》5大荒謬奇幻之旅". GQ瀟灑男人網 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2019-07-28. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
2. "Taiwan's amazing answer to 'The Room'". Popula. Archived from the original on 2019-05-21. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
3. "Story in Taipei becomes a cult hit in Taiwan". Asia in Cinema. 2017-06-01. Archived from the original on 2019-07-27. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
4. "Story in Taipei (2017) by Huang Ying-hsiung". Asian Film Vault. Archived from the original on 2019-07-27. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
5. Colburn, Randall (October 2018). "A new classic of so-bad-it's-good cinema has emerged from Taiwan". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 2019-07-27. Retrieved 2019-07-28.

External links

• Story in Taipei at IMDb