This Taiwanese romantic comedy never reaches the hits of Ko Giddens, but is more than enjoyable thanks to 90s nostalgia…
If you were a fan of Ko Giddens’ You Are The Apple Of My Eye then you’re sure to be a fan of the 2015 Taiwanese film Our Times, which feels more than just a symbolical homage to Giddens’ 2011 release.
Our Times is the silver screen debut of Taiwanese TV producer Frankie Chen; a sweet romantic tale of nostalgia and teen school years. The film has been described as the female version of You Are The Apple Of My Eye and I can’t help but feel on some level it rings true, however Our Times succeeds in carving out it’s own identity and niche in the ‘teen nostalgia romance’ genre (one evidently bursting at the scenes with recent releases…), whilst also disappoints in not reaching the dizzyingly high expectations set by the smash hit from Giddens it gets often compared to.
Following Truly Lin (Joe Chen) in a flashback of her younger self (Vivian Sung from Café. Waiting. Love) and her three classmates, popular girl Tao Minmin (Dewi Chien), the bad boy Hsu Taiyu (Darren Wang) and campus heartthrob Ouyang Extraordinary (Dino Lee). The film has an intro and outro set in the present, showcasing how hardworking Truly is whilst stuck in a job going nowhere, and a declining relationship, however the film flourishes almost better (and I say almost, I’ll come back to this) set entirely in the 1990s. Focusing upon Truly’s clumsy self at 18, naivety and school pranks are her only distraction asides school work, until she ends up catching the eye of the school bully Hsu Taiyu.
As the film progresses, we are led through the elegant story of a good-natured girl changing everyone and everything around her for the better, whilst retaining a healthy love for 90s Cantopop king Andy Lau, whom she thoroughly idolizes. The 90’s is breathtakingly reconstructed throughout the film, with delicious set design, reminiscent roller-skating rinks, Stephen Chow movies, nostalgic cheesy Lau pop songs and tacky clothing and hairstyles. This is one of the elements that the film recreates best, whether from small details on the set, to a backing track of classic Andy Lau Cantopop seeded carefully through the backing track.
Overall, the narrative is nothing special in Our Times, however the best moments come from the slapstick comedy and over 90’s nostalgic moments (such as records and bookstores). The casting of the young actors is the crowning jewel of the film, and its an absolute shame when they’re cast aside at the end of the film for ‘older’ actors portraying the same characters we’ve connected to over the last 60 minutes. The fresh talent of Darren Wang and Vivian Sung is the shining element that will keep audiences watching, however the wardrobe elements of big hair, long skirts, macho outfits and smiling grins are just lovely window dressing for great casting.
The relatively simplistic nature of the plot is nothing new for the first hour, and then it begins to slowly come apart as more expansive turgid side-plots are seeded throughout, dragging out the climax of the film. Despite these side-plots however, several unseen expositions and personality revelations provide emotional moments for the audience and a smattering of dramatic tension. It’s a shame however that more effort wasn’t put into the narrative, asides a bookend of modern-day narrative (which is only there to really provide one INCREDIBLE cameo that audiences will absolutely adore) that shouldn’t be there at all, as the formulaic nature of the film allows most audiences to also guess ‘when’ the reveals are coming.
Our Times is the kind of great film that would probably get snapped up by terrestrial television on a boring mid-afternoon weekend screening. It draws a lot of comparisons from previous films in the same genre, but retains enough new elements to also stay watchable and interesting; though to be fair, the only real reason to watch towards the end is the cameo hinted at throughout the whole film by 90’s music references.