Summaries

Three vignettes from three different directors that tell stories of ordinary people during Taiwan's Cold War period.

A man gets paid to pose up as walking billboards (The Sandwich Man) for a local movie theater in an effort to provide for his family with his humble wage. Realizing that his baby boy couldn't recognize him without his clown make-up from work, he decides to stay in his work costume at home, filling the role of a big model figure for his son. Two salesmen set out to sell pressure cookers in a rural area, where the locals take little interest in such a fancy yet unnecessary invention. As they struggle to get their business going, one salesman notices a pretty girl who always wears a hat and wonders why she does so. A blue-collar worker and a father of several young children is seriously injured in a car accident, for which a U.S. military officer stationed in Taiwan is responsible as the driver. Instructed to deliver a generous compensation to the victim and his family as a gesture of goodwill, the officer brings apples for the injured worker's family to enjoy by his hospital bed. As if the taste of apples were a taste of heaven, this satrical short film concludes the three-part anthology that sets out to explore such themes as exploitation, suffering, and inequality in the context of Taiwan's struggles towards modernity.—fuenping

Details

Keywords
  • based on novel
  • 1960s
  • u.s. colonization of taiwan
Genres
  • Drama
Release date Sep 1, 1983
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) Not Rated
Countries of origin Taiwan
Language Mandarin Min Nan
Production companies Central Motion Pictures Sunny Overseas

Box office

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 45m
Color Color
Sound mix Mono
Aspect ratio 1.85 : 1

Synopsis

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