Ren yu duo duo

FOCUS: First Cuts is a series of films showcasing some of the works from up and coming Asian directors. Supported by Andy Lau's Focus Films, we'll be seeing a slew of 6 movies, the first being the Taiwanese movie The Shoe Fairy, starring Vivian Hsu and Duncan Lai, directed by first timer Robin Lee.

The Shoe Fairy is a modern day fairy tale. One which isn't kind to its genre to begin with, highlighting the evil witch and wolf characters and their impending bloody demise in each tale. The Chinese title "Ren Yu Duo Duo" will already hint about the fairy tale from which this movie draws its inspiration from, with "Ren Yu" being mermaid (in this context). Like the Little Mermaid, Dodo (Hsu) looks normal, except that she cannot use her legs. A miraculous operation allowed her to walk again, and slowly she develops an obsession with shoes. Loads of them.

Girls would probably squeal at the variety of shoes on display in the movie, and I tell you it's a really wide range. Dodo felt that shoes are her first love, and wondered if shoes are indeed her happiness in life. Being weaned on fairy tales from young, it seemed that shoes are perfectly capable of providing her that happily ever after ending, until she meets Smiley, the dentist (Lai).

The movie becomes one of those saccharine sweet moments where boy woos girl, boy marries girl, then what? Perhaps it has a deeper message in its arty-farty feel, but somehow that feeling did not come to me. Give me conflicts, which the movie does, but sidesteps it somewhat. We see how much one treasures something when one has it, and how one emotional spirals downwards when one loses it. I must say I didn't expect it to turn in that direction though, before resuming itself in the theme of hope.

What didn't work for me was the usage of a narrator - Andy Lau. Sorry Andy, your narration's a bit difficult to follow, and I somewhat dislike movies with narration that explains the story - we can see the visuals you know? Also, the strangely huge English and Chinese subtitles were so badly done - not aesthetically pleasing, and full of typos. Someone never did their homework? While the visuals were stunning (it did win a Golden Horse ward for Best Art Direction in 2005), I felt the special effects quite cheesy, and the plot being a little weak. While it showed promise in its slow start, the second half was a torture to sit through, where it tried to develop the characters in too short a time left. This movie will probably appeal to hard core fans of Vivian Hsu, who probably haven't seen their idol on celluloid in a long time.

This is a strange fairy tale-like story set in modern Taiwan about an odd woman named Do Do and her sweet husband, Smiley Dentist. It begins in Do Do's childhood where she is unable to walk and restricted to a wheelchair. However, after receiving surgery, she's now able to walk and becomes obsessed with shoe--and eventually it dominates her life. What happens next is strange....very strange.

I wanted to like "The Shoe Fairy" and its quirkiness was infectious. However, as I watched the film I kept waiting for the film to come together and make the viewing experience worth my time. That never occurred. I did like the interesting set designs and cinematography and the germ of a story idea was there....but alas, it was unsatisfying which is a shame, as there IS a lot of interesting stuff buried within the film.

In all fairy tales, there is good, evil and the quest for true happiness. Good can be in the form of a princess, a mermaid or even just a little girl, but evil is usually witch-shaped. Also, Prince Charming always equals true happiness. Often dark and scary, sometimes simply unfair, fairy tales teach us about life. So what do we learn from The Shoe Fairy? Well the lessons in this fairytale are definitely for the girls. Firstly, horrible things will happen to you if you deny yourself the pleasure of buying more and more shoes (we knew it!). Secondly, you may try and convince yourself that you don't need Prince Charming to have true happiness, but he is – unavoidably - an essential part of the equation. Lastly, it is never a good idea to shake a gift before opening it.

The Shoe Fairy teaches us these vital lessons through the story of the unfortunate Dodo, a little girl who can't walk and so learns about the perilous world of give and take in fairy stories. Unsurprisingly, she identifies most strongly with The Little Mermaid, who gives up her magical voice to an evil witch in order to gain a pair of legs and live on land with the Prince she loves. Then a miracle operation gets Dodo up and running to the shoe shop and many shoes later, she is a beautiful young woman, working as an accountant to support her shoe habit. And though she is a very quiet girl, she did not have to trade her beautiful voice with a witch to get this charming life.

Then a grumbling wisdom tooth forces Dodo to seek out Smiley the Dentist, aka Prince Charming. What a prince! Not only is he a man who can appreciate the beauty of shoes, but he willingly wears many hats to make sure Dodo's dreams are not interrupted by the bright glare of morning. They settle down together to enjoy happily ever after. Until the inevitable, "Honey, I think you have more than enough shoes now" conversation when it all goes very wrong.

The Shoe Fairy borrows unashamedly from such great storytellers as Hans Christian Anderson, CS Lewis and even Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It is a quirky and surreal film, packed with primary colours, two dimensional landscapes and strange, silent exchanges of communication. On occasion, Dodo's shoes vibrate, weep or smile and there is other symbolism that is equally unsubtle and disconcerting.

But Vivian Hsu as Dodo is very good, the smiley prince is charming and together they do find true happiness. And though we are not convinced that true happiness equals one black sheep and one white sheep, we can believe that owning a room full of shoes is a good start.

The only extra on the DVD is the trailer.