#ubd

Again, with Taiwanese tear-jerking, bittersweet and time skip ending, these Taiwanese high school films filled with nostalgia and stories about youth are some of the most famous films from Taiwan along with their beautiful soundtracks. I will be introducing some of these Taiwanese high school films you should definitely check out because they’re great!

1.     Our Times (2015)

Rating: 8.5/10

Sypnosis: Office worker Lin Zhen Xin goes on a journey through her memories. Flashing back 20 years to her time in high school, she reminisces about teaming up with a friend to take down their rivals.

One of my favourite Taiwanese high school films with amazing soundtrack, follow Lin Zhen Xin through her highschool days fangirling on her favourite idol and chasing her crush. Along the way, she met Tai Yu, the school’s gangster. Follow along their journey of trying to help each other chase their crushes and dreaming about who they want to become in the future in this movie.

2.     You are the apple of my eyes (2011)

Rating: 7.5/10

Sypnosis: Adolescence is like a heavy rain. Even though you catch a cold from it, you still look forward to experiencing it once again. Ko-Teng has several close friends who had a crush on Shen Chia-Yi. Those friends of Ko's thus moved in unison from Ching Chengs junior high school straight into the senior high school division in pursuit of her. Naughty in nature, Ko was ordered by their homeroom teacher to sit in front of honor student Shen for her to keep close tabs on him. The two hadn't hit it off at first but Ko gradually fell for Shen, who was always pressuring him to study hard. On the other hand, Shen became impressed by the contrasting values Ko represented. Ko started pursuing Shen but Shen remained hesitant. (Source: AsianWiki)

Watch it. Listen to the soundtrack. Okay, you are good to go. This is a must-watch Taiwanese high school movie classic. In this movie, you will get the ‘feels’ of Taiwanese humour and high school students’ life. With its bittersweet ending, this movie will make you happy, sad and cry. An emotional film and so is Our Times (2015) and I highly recommend you to watch both of them!

3.     Someday or One Day (2019)

Rating: 8/10

Episodes: 13

Sypnosis: Huang Yu-Xuan is depressed after her boyfriend dies from a plane incident. One day, she receives a parcel with tape, and she goes back to the past while listening to the tape and meets her boyfriend once again.

MORE AND MORE BITTERSWEET ENDINGS. I just love watching films with bittersweet endings because it just makes the story and the characters feel so real.

1.     La La Land (2016)

This musical with BEAUTIFUL soundtracks (especially City of Stars and the Mia and Sebastian Theme which are my personal favourites), is just such a masterpiece of a film. Every scenes are just shot so beautifully along with the catchy soundtracks. By casting Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, their chemistry is OVERFLOWING on-screen. I especially LOVE the ending when there was a compilation of scenes of what could have been. That scene BROKE me but I love it anyways so yeah! Love it and you should watch it if you haven’t already >:( You will not regret it, trust me!!

2.     500 Days of Summer (2009)

Another movie with a bittersweet ending. As you can tell from my previous posts, some characters that I dislike the most in series and movies are characters like Tedd from How I Met Your Mother, Ross from Friends and yes, Tom from 500 Days of Summer. I just hate men who are very closed minded and have traditional views on women to act a certain way. They claimed themselves to be this ‘nice guy’ trope but really, they are not as nice as they think they are. What got me through this movie is the whole cinematography and vibe of the film. I love the way they edited the whole movie which works perfectly to tell this story beautifully. I am also glad to see Tom grow as a person throughout this film and I just love the ending so much. Definitely a must-watch movie!

3.     Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

There are so many good movies out there worth re-watching a thousand times like Dirty Dancing, Jurassic Park, GODZILLAAAAAA but I will narrow it down to 3 movies that I enjoy re-watching. From the list, you can tell the type of movies I enjoy.

1.     Flipped (2010)

Stream: Netflix

My rating: 8/10

Sypnosis: Two eighth-graders start to have feelings for each other despite being total opposites. (Source: IMDb)

Yeah, as you can tell, story-telling/narration stories are really my type of movies especially when you can watch the point of view of both sides of the characters. I especially like watching innocent kids speaking their thoughts out and the feeling they felt. I feel like these kids are just very honest with how they are feeling, and you can see the character growth and development throughout the movie. Bryce was so cute and I remembered having a small crush on him when I was watching it as a little kid but he was so frustrating to me in the movie HAHA Flipped is definitely a go-to re-watch for me!

2.     Forrest Gump (1994)

Stream: Netflix

My rating: 9/10

Sypnosis: Forrest, a man with low IQ, recounts the early years of his life when he found himself in the middle of key historical events. All he wants now is to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart, Jenny.

An iconic movie to watch but maybe not as a little kid with your parents. Still, it is definitely a good comfort movie to re-watch! I remember watching it as a little kid and feeling awkward when some inappropriate scenes came out because I was watching it with my parents but overall, I just really like the way the whole movie was narrated and his simple and innocent thoughts. You get to see Forrest growing up and the amazing journeys he had been through. The ending was also very bittersweet which is the type I like. I re-watched it a few more times when I was older and I could finally understand the references and meanings behind some scenes that I found confusing as a little kid.  

3.     Bridget Jones’s diary (2001)

Stream: Netflix

My rating: 8/10

Sypnosis: Bridget, a single woman, writes a diary focusing on how she wants to change her life. However, after two romantic encounters, her perspective changes drastically.

Another genre that I enjoy watching is the slice-of-life genre. It just feels good and simple to watch these kinds of dramas or series and grow closer to the characters. There are times when you can relate to one of the characters which makes you form a closer bond to them. Sometimes, you just enjoy watching the characters’ interactions and their day-to-day life. However, this kind of genre usually leave us with bittersweet endings of huge change or character separation after learning valuable life lessons for characters to develop even more after the separation. Here are some slice-of-life dramas and series that I personally enjoyed re-watching when I miss the characters.

1.     Friends (1994)

With over 10 seasons, Friends is one of the series that is easy to watch and each episodes do not usually link with each other so you randomly pick an episode and watch them whenever you feel like it. The chemistry between the casts are so unbelievable and I especially love the friendship between Joey and Chandler. I personally feel like I can relate to each of the characters. For example, I relate to Chandler due to his fear of commitment and sarcastic humor, Joey because he funny-stupid and I’m not-that-funny-stupid too, Monica because she is an organizing and cleaning freak and I am like that too, Rachel because she is career-driven and a shopaholic, and also Phoebe because she is so weird and I am weird like her too HAHA

However, I feel like I can’t relate to Ross the most idk I just feel like we have different value and mindset but yeah, he’s okay I guess. I just love their dynamic and friendship altogether and I aspire to find a friend group like theirs too and just chill at Central Perk everyday. Not to mention, the mid to late 90s outfits in Friends is just so pretty. I especially love Monica’s and Rachel’s outfits so much! Definitely a go-to TV series to me where I can watch it light-heartedly

2.     Modern Family (2009)

Modern Family is one of my favourite series too with the slice-of-life genre. It just feels so good to watch the characters grow and develop through every season and I felt so empty when the series ended last year. I will definitely miss the Dunphy family, Lily’s sassy sarcastic attitude and Gloria! I honestly love all the characters in Modern Family and they all have their good and bad which is what makes them human. While watching the series, you’ll definitely find a family member who you could personally relate to a lot and in my case, it would be Jay and Lily. I also love the chemistry of the casts and all the casts just fit the role they play so perfectly. I really like Gloria and Phil’s scenes together and Lily with anyone in general.

3.     Hospital Playlist (2020)

"What? You’re an angel? Yeah? You listen to God, do you? Are you God’s little bitches, you bitch?"

"Yeah. You’re a bunch of freaks aren’t you? Little freaky deeks."

"Give us some money!"

"Hah! Angel more like Lame-gel!"