Classmates Minus (2021)

Classmates Minus (2021)

A bizarre, little black comedy with an original view of Taiwan

7.1

Movie

Taiwan
Mandarin
Comedy, Drama
2020
HUANG HSIN-YAO
Ada Pan, Chen Yi-wen, Chen Yiwen
122 min

What it's about

A group of former high school pals see their friendship put to test amid their struggles with love, marriage and careers.

The take

It's slower and stranger than most comedies you may be used to, but there's still lots of heart to be found in the way Classmates Minus follows the lapsed hopes and wishes of its core characters. Beneath all its stereotypically male yearnings for control and romantic wish fulfillment, there are potent ideas here about how a tired economy and jaded political culture can turn those in their middle age into completely different people. Writer/director Huang Hsin-yao provides narration for his own film, but rather than being distracting or conceited, his words add a level of needed sympathy to everything we see on screen.

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