Mega-hits can be divided into two categories: those whose appeal crosses international boundaries, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Shaolin Soccer, and those that suffer in translation. Cape No7 belongs in the latter camp. Taiwan's most popular homegrown production, whose box office returns currently rank second only to Titanic, has taken the island by storm. It's a record which will probably not be approached, let alone equalled, in Hong Kong. Director-writer Wei Te-sheng's romantic comedy is skilfully filmed light entertainment, but for viewers not steeped in Taiwanese culture, the film's goings-on lack the resonance to strike a chord outside its home territory.

One can appreciate why the film is so popular in Taiwan. It's full of vivid characters, traditional and contemporary music, and dialogue that is delivered with such gusto that it sounds witty even to those of us unversed in the Taiwanese dialect. Characters range from native aborigines to Hakka and Taiwanese bumpkins, and while it's not easy for outsiders to notice the differences, the cross-cultural factors add richness to a rather conventional narrative.

The region's complicated colonial relationship with Japan is deftly touched upon via parallel romances taking place in the past and present. The story's focus is on would-be rock star Aga (Van Fan Yi-chen), who returns to southern Taiwan after a less than stellar career in Taipei and becomes an unenthusiastic postman not averse to keeping the letters he fails to deliver. Among these is a cache of missives from 1945 written by a Japanese man to his Taiwanese sweetheart after his post-war expulsion from the island. The girlfriend's address, 'Cape No7,' is difficult to trace after six decades, but Aga keeps trying.

The letter-reading flashbacks, in Japanese, serve as a pensive counterpoint to Aga's quirky life and his own attempt at fostering Tokyo-Taiwan relations. His involvement with model-turned-agent Tomoko (Chie Tanaka) predictably develops from antagonism to passion as she tries to recruit Aga to open for Japanese singer Atari Kousuke (above) at a beach concert in Kenting National Park.

More interesting than their affair is the local colour that goes into the concert preparations, which take up the bulk of the film's 133 minutes. Stealing the spotlight from the young protagonists are two of the older cast members: Uncle Mao (Johnny Lin Chung-jen), a doddering semi-retired postman who joins Aga's band, and Aga's stepfather (Ma Ju-lung), a rural politician.

Chin Ting-chang's evocative cinematography guarantees that most viewers will leave the theatre smiling.

Cape No7 opens today