This curious Taiwanese homage to ‘Groundhog Day’ (1993) has a distinct feel, the sentimental romance of Cai (Guo Shu Yao) and Luke (Kent Tsai) giving it a bright lustre that the comedic original lacked. Every morning Luke wakes up and goes through the motions of asking Cai to marry him and every time he does this he collapses in a faint and goes unconscious. When he doesn’t repeat the steps the day of his marriage proposal has mapped out for him he’s delivered a message that knocks him out anyway and so the cycle continues unabated.
How he counters this tendency is where the drama fits in, but how real is it all? This concept movie forces you to stretch the boundaries of logic as you try to make sense of the plot, but it’s also topical in that the drama is centred on a failure of Luke to be adequately responsive to his girlfriend’s needs. I was deeply impressed and really enjoyed everything about the movie even Luke’s tendency to ham it up. To offset this distracting aspect of the main character, Cai is understated and austere. Cai’s friend Yao’s delicate beauty offers a contrast to Tsai’s conventional appeal.
This film was part of last year’s SciFi Film Festival.
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