Story in Taipei

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]

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 meaningTaipei monogatari
Hanyu PinyinTáiběi wùyǔ
Directed byHuang Ying-hsiung
Release date
  • May 19, 2017 (2017-05-19)
Running time
118 minutes
CountryTaiwan
LanguagesChinese
Taiwanese

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 (李宓) as Guo Xinchun, his assistant
  • Oscar Chiu (邱志宇) as Tony, Sun Ying's colleague
  • Zhang Zhehao (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.


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