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James Marsh

3/5 stars
From Chinese blockbuster No More Bets to the Sandra Ng Kwan-yue-led romance Love Lies, films about the dangers of online scamming are appearing as frequently as the calls themselves of late, and warrant a subgenre all their own.
Taiwanese director Lien Chien-hung’s latest film, Salli, sees a lonely chicken farmer duped by someone posing as a suave European art dealer but, rather than unspool as a straightforward cautionary tale, the film uses the incident as a catalyst for positive personal growth.
Esther Liu Pin-yan stars as Hui-jun, a spinster in her late thirties who lives with her younger brother, Wei-hong (Austin Lin Po-hung), in a small Taiwanese village.


She is deemed bad luck by her relatives and is told not to attend Wei-hong’s coming wedding, despite him wanting her to host the celebration.
Hui-jun’s teenage niece Xin-ru (Tang Yung-hsu) is feeling equally dejected, as she has been forced to leave Shanghai and move to this small backwater community after her father abandoned her.

In an effort to cheer up her “Tiger Aunt”, Xin-ru signs Hui-jun up to a dating app under the nickname “Salli”. She is soon targeted by a smooth-talking Frenchman, who wastes no time in professing his love for Hui-jun.
Unsurprisingly, she finds the attention impossible to resist, despite being warned repeatedly by everyone around her that she is probably being catfished. Defiantly, Hui-jun throws caution to the wind and jets off to Paris, leaving her quiet little corner of the world for the very first time.
A French-Taiwanese co-production, Salli makes good use of its Parisian locations, throwing Hui-jun in at the deep end to explore all the major tourist spots, as well as sample some of the city’s hedonistic, free-spirited nightlife.

While it is acknowledged early on that Hui-jun is definitely being conned, the film has no interest in seeing any harm come to its heroine. Crossing paths with a criminal, albeit virtually, merely inspires Hui-jun to spread her wings and finally fly the coop.
Simple yet effective in its execution, Salli takes to task outdated traditions that measure a woman’s value by her husband, children and social status.
It succeeds in large part thanks to Liu’s eminently sympathetic performance as a woman who has been shunned by those closest to her, solely because there is no man in her life.
Somewhat predictably, the film ultimately resolves that there is no place like home – but nothing compares to a fleeting European interlude to recalibrate one’s perspective.
Salli opens in cinemas on Friday February 28.
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Lien Chien-hung’s film follows a lonely chicken farmer who embarks on a journey of self-discovery after being scammed on a dating app


Lien Chien-hung’s film follows a lonely chicken farmer who embarks on a journey of self-discovery after being scammed on a dating app.


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Lien Chien-hung’s film follows a lonely chicken farmer who embarks on a journey of self-discovery after being scammed on a dating app

Lien Chien-hung’s film follows a lonely chicken farmer who embarks on a journey of self-discovery after being scammed on a dating app