Do Over
Yi Nian Zhi Chu
credits:
Director: Cheng Yu-ChiehProducers: Lee Su-Ching, Liang Hung-Chih
Writer: Cheng Yu-Chieh
Cast: Wang Ching-Guan, Huang Chien-Wei, Ko Yu-Luen, Tuo Zong-Hua
US Premiere
Taiwan 2006 | 113 mins | 35mm | Mandarin w/E.S.
Immediately thrusting its audience into a film within a film, Cheng Yu-Chieh’s debut feature blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, drawing connections between the past, present and future. An examination of the nature of fate, it unabashedly trumpets the transformative power of cinema. Set over the course of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, DO OVER trails five characters caught in a stalemate between their desires and their choices. Blinded by timidity, rage or drugs, each inevitably finds himself making decisions that are ultimately ineffectual, flawed or—worst of all—destructive. Pang is a film production assistant whose lack of self-confidence prevents him from reaching out to the beautiful lead actress. Desperate to visit his ailing father in his home country, Ding-An, an illegal immigrant in Taiwan, will stop at nothing to get his long-overdue identification card. After an intense drug binge, Rat wakes up in a strange, isolated hospital, unsure about how he got there, the source of the blood on his shirt, and the whereabouts of his two female companions. Two brothers—one a crime boss and one a young movie director—feel trapped by their respective jobs; driven to paranoia and confusion, they remain separated by a violent secret.
Set in a hip, ultra-modern Taipei milieu, Cheng’s film benefits strongly from the work of cinematographer Jake Pollock, who enables the director to leap from light to dark and from surreal to real, creating a world rich in visual styles and possibilities.
—Jonathan L. Knapp
