FILM REVIEW: Sequin 阿水3 min read
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Ah-Tsui, the owner of an old grocery store, always feels bored with the dull life with his wife. The story starts from a day when Ah-Tsui happens to make a call for a prostitute, Yi-Qian, without the knowledge of his wife. As Ah-Tsui’s first time, things were awkward with Yi-Qian until they get caught by her boyfriend Zhong-Han. Although Yi-Qian managed to deceive Zhong-Han about the real identity of Ah-Tsui, through a weird twist of events, it leads to Ah-Tsui, who had only wanted to satisfy his sexual desires, to be entangled in the couple’s relationship.
Director: Ya-Chi Yang
Year: 2017
Cast: Yi-Xiong Lin, Shu-Fang Chen, Zai-Xing Zhang, Wei-wei Chen, Bo-Xuan Gong, Feng-Zhang Qiu
Language: Taiwanese, Mandarin Chinese
Runtime: 16min
Rating: R
Review by Jean Wong
Such a simple story about a clumsy old man in search for something to spice up his life is able to speak volumes to us. In Ah-Tsui’s attempt to experience something new and different in a relationship, he is introduced to more than he expected. During his rendezvous with an escort, Yi-Qian, her boyfriend shows up and discovers the truth behind Ah-Tsui and Yi-Qian’s relationship. His involvement ended up bringing a lot of complications to what Ah-Tsui thought would just be a brief and discreet night.
Having witnessed the young couple’s interactions with one another, it dawns on Ah-Tsui that a young and volatile romance may not necessarily be a good thing. Although he may have previously tired of his dull relationship with his wife, he grows to learn that it may be just what he needed after all. Perhaps Ah-Tsui was just searching for his lost youth with Yi-Qian. However, he ultimately found it with his wife rather than the prostitute, something he might not have thought was possible before.
Going through the rollercoaster of events that lasted less than a night changed Ah-Tsui’s perspective and he begun to appreciate spending time with his wife in a way he had not before. This seems to draw parallels with many moments in our lives where we might have wanted something different, only to realise that what we already have is what we really needed — that all we really needed was a change in perspective, not a change in circumstance. Ya-Chi Yang’s Sequin (2017) is a delectable short film that teaches us a life lesson through episodes of real life intertwined with humour.
About Kaohsiung Shorts
高雄拍 (Kaohsiung Shorts) aims to make Kaohsiung the Taiwanese short film base, to discover and showcase new short films that break the norms, boundaries and stereotypes through the use of media. Started in 2012 by the Kaohsiung Film Archive, Kaohsiung Shorts is a short film grant that aims to encourage film talents to be based in Kaohsiung and be inspired by the city. Films created under this programme will be having their Taiwan premiere during the Kaohsiung International Film Festival. Since 2015, short films created under the Kaohsiung Shorts have been showcased in other countries such as Hong Kong, France, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
