Film review: Café. Waiting. Love will appeal to fans of You are the Apple of My Eye
The English title may call to mind Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love but Café. Waiting. Love has far stronger links to the works of Taiwanese writer turned director Giddens Ko Ching-teng.
Starring: Vivian Sung Yu-hua, Bruce Bu Lu-si, Marcus Chang Li-ang, Vivian Chow Wai-man
Director: Chiang Jin-lin
Category: IIA (Mandarin and Taiwanese)
The English title may call to mind Elizabeth Gilbert's but has far stronger links to the works of Taiwanese writer turned director Giddens Ko Ching-teng. Executive produced by Ko, adapted from one of his novels, and helmed by Chiang Jin-lin, who co-executive directed the film adaptation of Ko's , this movie looks to be intended for the same romance-loving young adults who made Ko's 2011 work a box office success.
But whereas it's difficult to separate fact from fiction in the earlier film, there are a number of fanciful occurrences in that could only take place in reel, rather than real, life. The way you react to some improbable goings-on involving hot sausages and bowls of (sweet soya bean pudding) will have a big impact on your opinion of this movie.
The film centres on a young woman named Si-ying (Vivian Sung Yun-hwa), an undergraduate who gets a part-time job at a café after she impresses the establishment's owner (Vivian Chow Wai-man) by sticking up for a fellow student whose "friends" were making fun of him. Si-ying reckons that she's "nothing special" and "more ordinary than ordinary".
At times it can seem like the lady doth protest too much. But when her statements are considered within the context of the universe, she does have a point.
After all, its other denizens include the likes of affable goofball A-Tuo (Bruce Bu Lu-si), a campus legend on account of activities like dressing in a bikini and a cabbage.
A past president of the Iron Head Kungfu club that Si-ying's masochistic room-mate A Zhu (Gao Be-hei) is an enthusiastic member of, many suspect there's something wrong with his head.
It's only to be expected then that Si-ying's initial impressions of him are far less favourable than those of Ze Yu (Marcus Chang Li-ang), a good-looking fellow who appears very popular with those of a female persuasion — though it's true enough that Abusi (Megan Lai Ya-yan), the café's lesbian barista, acts like he's invisible.
But while Si-ying pines after Ze Yu, she ends up spending more time in the company of A-Tuo — and those familiar with romantic film conventions will easily be able to guess which man will eventually win Si-ying's heart.
may have "love" in its title, but it seems like director Chiang worked more on the comedic sections than the romance.
Another surprise is that while it's mainly a young people's movie, veterans Li Luo (as director-actor turned seafood restaurant owner Brother Bao) and Pauline Lan Hsin-mei (as launderette owner Auntie Jin-dao) provide the film with its best moments.
