''Taipei Exchanges'' () is a 2010

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese comedy film directed by Hsiao Ya-chuan and starring

Gwei Lun-mei Gwei Lun-mei (; born 25 December 1983) is a Taiwanese actress. She started her acting career in 2002, with the film '' Blue Gate Crossing''. Gwei then appeared in a few more films before achieving wide recognition for the film '' Secret'', dir ...

and Zaizai Lin.

Plot

Doris always wanted to have her own coffee-house. With the help of her sister, Joise, she opened "Doris's Cafe". After the first day of business, however, there are few customers for the coffee house and the coffee house becomes cluttered with many useless gifts brought by friends and former colleges. Later, when customers start to ask about purchasing some of the items, Joise suggested a bartering system for the store. Business goes up as people linger to decide what to exchange. Later, customers began to share their personal stories with Doris in the coffee house as well.

Cast

as Doris, the owner of the newly opened cafe. * Zaizai Lin as Joise, sister of Doris who works in the cafe. *

Chang Han Chang Han (, born December 25, 1985, in Hualien City, Hualien) is a Taiwanese people, Taiwanese football player from Amis people, Amis tribe. He usually plays as a Forward (association football), striker. During the Football at the 2008 Summer ...

as Chun-Ching, a soap collector who has collected 35 bars of soap. Each bar of soap has a story behind it. *

Kousuke Atari is a Japanese pop singer. He is a self-trained musician, and performs in the shimauta (island-song) style of his hometown. Discography Albums * 999.04.04Atari (アタリ) (Indies) * 000.07.30Kurudando (くるだんど) (Indies) * 002.0 ...

as a Japanese Singer

Production

The film was invested in part by

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

tourism bureau. Director Hsiao Ya-chuan said that he got inspiration for Doris's character when he visited a coffee shop in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, where he witnessed a French girl with short hair devoting "her full attention to making desserts at the counter". Hsiao also said that he wanted to deliver the idea of "making exchanges without using money" because he felt that "if we value an item with only one fixed standard e: money the item will lose its appeal very soon.". Doris’ Coffee Shop, the coffee shop featured in the film, was built completely from scratch in an old apartment on

Fujin Street Fujin may refer to: * Fujin, Heilongjiang, city in Heilongjiang, China * Fūjin, Japanese god of the wind * Fujin (''Final Fantasy VIII''), a character in the game ''Final Fantasy VIII'' * Fujin, fictional character in the ''Mortal Kombat'' figh ...

in Taipei. It later became a real coffee shop after the shooting of the film.

Reception

The ''

Taipei Times The ''Taipei Times'' is an English-language print newspaper in Taiwan published by the Liberty Times Group. Founded as the third English-language newspaper on 15 June 1999, it is currently the last surviving English-language print newspaper i ...

'' described the film as a "surprisingly sweet, romantic portrait of a Taipei where capitalism is superseded by a barter economy". The reviewer praised the art, saying that the "fairy-tale feel

f the film F, or f, is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet and many modern alphabets influenced by it, including the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of all other modern western European languages. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounc ...

is charmingly enhanced by artist Wu Meng-yun’s child-like illustrated art, and the "warm, comforting usicscore". However, it added that towards "80%" of the film, "Hsiao stretches his already thin material a bit too much and loses the momentum he would have needed to make a serious statement." It also criticized the characters of the film, saying that they "seem to live exclusively in delightful vignettes that are inspired by the real world but not truly rooted in it.". Film Business Asia said that "Hsiao's second feature is technically smooth and never boring to watch. But it's as wispy as the froth from a cappuccino machine." and rated the film 5 out of 10. ''Time Out'' gave the film a score of 2 out of 5, describing it as "A sickly sweet capitalist allegory that severely lacks substance". However, it added that the film "gets extra marks for the production design and ultra-clean shooting style". ''Taipei Exchanges'' grossed a total of

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

17,773 at the Singaporean box office.

References

External links

* * * {{Rotten-tomatoes, id=taipei_exchanges 2010 films 2010s Mandarin-language films 2010 comedy-drama films Taiwanese comedy-drama films