Review of Love in Taipei, directed by Arvin Chen

I’ll have to admit: I never was really into Young Adult novels growing up. It’s a bit difficult talking about my journey as a reader, especially now as a book blogger, because in the 2nd grade I had read all of the Harry Potter series cover to cover, and in the 3rd grade my teacher was concerned to see that I was reading books for high schoolers.

Because of this, I always skipped the books for my grade level. I was in Les Miserables mode in the 7th grade, even though I couldn’t understand what was going on fully historically. I never got around to reading books like Loveboat, Taipei and seeing what kids my age were actually reading.

When I saw this adaptation added to Netflix, at first I didn’t care to try and check it out. I had never read the book, and it seemed like a classic young adult movie. But lately I’ve been trying to seem less pretentious and break free of the constraints I put onto myself in an attempt to be more open minded.

And that was how I watched this movie! It was a pretty quick watch if we’re going to be honest—it felt like it flew by over the course of the run time.

Let’s get into the review.

On a study abroad program to Taiwan, a young woman might find love with another student.

Our main character in this movie is Ever Wong, who is 21 and from Ohio. She’s the typical all-star Asian-American student: the top of her class, a dancer, and is a pre-med major with a bright future ahead of her. She’s about to go into medical school, too, once the summer of over, but her parents suggest something different to do this summer: go to Taiwan.

They want to enroll her in a summer school in Taiwan so she can learn more about Taiwan and study the language. Ever isn’t too happy with this, as she wanted to do a dance school—looks like she’s going behind her parent’s back and trying to get into a program in New York.

But when she arrives in Taipei, she learns this program is kind of seen as an opportunity by peers to party and find love. Classes begin, and Ever starts getting little sketches of herself from someone who’s clearly watching. She also makes friends with other classmates, like Sophie, and hangs out with her cousin Rick. There’s also Xavier, who begins dating Sophie.

Turns out there’s family in town too, and Ever befriends her Aunt Shu, an artist with a studio. It’s there she starts practicing her dance moves, as she’s not going to give up on those dreams and hobby.

With her new friends, they start exploring the city and finding more things to do. Rick breaks up with his girlfriend, then invites Ever as a date to a family affair. There, she realizes he’s bragging inaccurately about her family, as he says her father is a doctor (he was in Taiwan, but not the United States).

This angers Ever and she leaves the party. Xavier and Sophie also break up, and Ever and Xavier meet, then get caught in a typhoon. We learn from him that he was the one sending the sketches to her, and they kiss. But then Ever flees back to campus alone. There, she finds Rick, and he apologizes and admits he will be leaving town the next day.

When morning arrives, Ever rushes to her aunt’s studio, as it turns out Ever forgot to close the windows last time it was there. Everything is ruined, but her parents reach out and tell her she got a rejection from the dance company. Ever decides continue her life, enlisting her friends to clean the studio.

Ever begins practicing traditional dancing for the Loveboat Street Festival. Her parents come into town to see this, and everything goes so perfectly. The movie then ends with a moment between Xavier and Ever, as well as Ever admitting she is okay with not fully knowing where life will take her.

Overall Thoughts

While I could easily see this slotting into the young adult genre and as a coming of age movie, I kind of wished this film were a tad different. For example, I was kind of hoping that it would focus more on Ever’s self-discovery and revelation that everything is going to be okay rather than the romance elements.

That said, I didn’t hate this movie. I love AAPI representation in the genre, even if it isn’t for me. I think we need more casual representation of AAPI stories without an attempt to make the culture and lifestyle exotic. Some movies so tend to make it seem foreign or other, and I didn’t get that too much with this film.

Go watch this if you’re interested and haven’t already! You might find it more worth it than I did, as taste is very much subjective at the end of the day.

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