Together

The catalog for the 2013 Seattle International Film Festival calls "Soi Yat Hei" (English captions) a "delicate, life-affirming drama." I call this one a great big snooze; my apologies to Taiwan, who submitted this entry for our approval. Directed by Hsu Chao-Jen, this is supposedly an Amelie- esque romantic drama, but it dragged on and on, with very little forward motion to be seen. Maybe it was too delicate, but I had to smile at what I call the "Second-Act Sneak" as audience members quietly tiptoed out of the theatre long before the film ended.

This is NOT to be mistaken for the "perp walk" threatened by our SIFF host if any of us is caught with an electronic device glowing in the auditorium. This was more self-initiated: either fall asleep in your seat, or get outside to some fresh air and find another livelier film. Goodness knows this Festival has plenty of those: each time we leave the theater, lines have already formed for the next feature. I stayed to the bitter end hoping something would develop.

We are with a group of MoPed-fixated young adults who are struggling with their love lives. One of them has even MORE trouble, because not only is his sister struggling with her love life, his PARENTS are also struggling with theirs. Most of the scenes are inane and direction-less, even though there some delightfully humorous bits and I liked the idea of pop-up wedding invitations, but I became impatient with the inability of each character to get a grip and DO SOMETHING!

Yawn....

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The U-Tube preview provided by SIFF 

is not for THIS film...

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