Movie Review

Cape No. 7 (海角七號) is a Taiwanese romance, comedy and music-drama all rolled into one. Filmed, written and directed by Wei Te-Sheng, it garnered 3 awards at the 2008 Taipei Film Festival as well as being its opening film. The film contains lines spoken in Mandarin Chinese, native Taiwanese and Japanese showcasing the backdrop of Heng Chun, Taiwan with its richness in contrasts: mountains along with beaches; the old towns near the modern resort hotels, the aging population with the young working in Taipei, the diversified demographics with Hoklo, Hakka, Mainlanders and Taiwanese aborigines, the weather variation between the tropical southern Taiwan and the snow-laden Japan.
Prior to this film, the two leading actors Van Fan (范逸臣) and Chie Tanaka (田中千絵) (stayed in Taiwan for 15 months to study Chinese) only had minor acting roles but they have done justice to the film and themselves, turning in a credible performance. Even without a strong promotional campaign (tight budget I might add), this movie has become so popular in Taiwan that it became the 2nd highest grossing film in the island's cinematic history, behind the all-time tearjerker, The Titanic. Naturally, it came as no surprise when the film was nominated for 9 awards in the 2008 Golden Horse Award and competing in the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film as Taiwan’s representative.
On his trusty motorbike and his back on Taipei, Aga (Van Fan) journeys back to his hometown in Heng Chun after failing to make his mark as a rock band singer. On his return, Aga's step father (Ju-Lung Ma), the Town Council Representative, arm-twisted a position for him as a postman, replacing Uncle Mao (Johnny C.J. Lin) after an accident broke his leg. On his first day, Aga comes across an undeliverable piece of mail that was supposed to be returned to the post office (the daughter of the now deceased Japanese teacher has decided to mail the unsent love letters to Taiwan after discovering them, 60 years later). The rebel Aga unlawfully keeps and opens the package to uncover its contents, but the old Japanese-style address Cape No. 7, Hengchun County, Takao Prefecture could no longer be found. Ever so slowly, contents of the 7 love letters will be individually narrated throughout the movie, bridging the gaps of the characters and unraveling the final piece of the puzzle.
In the meanwhile, a local resort hotel is organizing a beach concert featuring Japanese pop singer Kousuke Atari. Putting his official position to good use, Aga’s step father bullied his way into insisting a local band opens the concert. Tomoko (Chie Tanaka), an over-the-hill Mandarin-speaking Japanese fashion model dispatched to Heng Chun, is assigned the difficult task of managing this hastily assembled band, led by Aga along with six other locals of rather unorthodox backgrounds. After a frustrating trial period Aga and Tomoko unexpectedly begin a love relationship which is flawed in the way it is handled, expressed and presented (focus on their romantic link-up is weak). With some assistance from hotel chambermaid Ming Chu (Shino Lin), Tomoko helps Aga find the aged Kojima Tomoko, the rightful recipient of the seven love letters. Aga then returns to the beach resort and performs a highly successful concert with this local band and Kousuke Atari.
In the final ending of the movie, it is revealed that in 1940s when Taiwan was a Japanese colony, a Japanese teacher (Kousuke Atari) dispatched to the southernmost town of Heng Chun fell in love with a local girl with the Japanese name Kojima Tomoko. After the Surrender of Japan, he was forced to return to his home country. On his trip home, he penned seven love letters to express his regret for leaving Tomoko, who originally planned to elope with him to Japan.

Watch because you have love for the film industry and at the same time, take in the wonderful sceneries of Taiwan. I give it 4 stars out of 5, very funny and heart-warming at the same time.