‘Love in Taipei’ Review: Romance and Self-Discovery Take a Holiday In a Flat Coming-of-Age Film
07.08.2023 - 04:41
/ variety.com
Courtney Howard While “Love in Taipei” promises transportive and transformative escapades with its adaptation of Abigail Hing Wen’s novel “Loveboat, Taipei,” the story’s core strengths are undervalued in the translation from book to screen. This Paramount Plus feature, centered on a young woman embarking on a life-changing overseas journey, only pays lip service to the struggle of a first-generation Asian-American caught between two worlds.
Instead, it places more emphasis on her romantic entanglements with two young men who all too often motivate her foundational change. Director Arvin Chen cleverly brings us into her psyche through whimsical aesthetic techniques and fantastical asides, but doesn’t make her emotions palpable enough to touch our hearts.
Eighteen-year-old Ever Wong (Ashley Liao) has always felt like an outsider in her tiny suburban town of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, being one of only three Asian-American students in her predominantly white school. Her parents (Jacko Chiang and Alexia Kao) emigrated from Taiwan so they could create a better life for her in America, but in doing so, her dad was demoted from doctor to pharmacist.
If it wasn’t enough dealing with the usual parental pressures to excel, Ever has decided to shoulder her father’s sacrifice, choosing a future in medicine over her heart’s desire to dance. However, all that’s about to change when Ever’s parents gift her with a surprise trip to Taipei for the summer before shipping off to college.
The study tour is an intensive eight-week immersion program in which pupils learn about their Taiwanese heritage — but it’s nicknamed “Loveboat” because of the students hooking up after hours. Ever is plunged into the deep end on her first day, meeting her
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