Mei li zai chang ge

MURMUR OF YOUTH is a very delicate and understated drama about two girls, both from small villages, who meet in Taipei while working in a movie theater; their mutual dislocation leads to a friendship which soon becomes something more. In many ways, there is a tentative quality to this film which makes it seem almost evanescent, but this very delicacy allows for subtle emotions to emerge gradually within the story. It's actually been a while since i've seen this film, but i remember it with real affection, because it seemed so unassuming and shy, rather like the two heroines. There were some humorous touches, such as having the two girls share the same given name, and the way they tried to find space in the cramped quarters of the ticket booth where they were both stationed at work.

When this film was made, cinema in Taiwan was undergoing a radical shift, as a number of artists, led by Hou Hsaio-Hsien and Edward Yang, were trying to create an "art" cinema; Lin Cheng-sheng was one of their colleagues, and his films, though less hard-edged, tried to tell stories of Taiwanese youth and their search for relationships.

I hadn't heard about this 1997 movie from director Cheng-sheng Lin titled "Murmur of Youth" (aka Mei li zai chang ge"). But I was given the chance to watch it in 2020, so of course I sat down to do so given my fascination with Asian cinema.

I read the synopsis for the movie just before watching it, and it seemed that the movie actually could be interesting.

However, director Cheng-sheng Lin was incredible slow at getting nowhere. There was a whole lot of nothing going on throughout the majority of this movie, which made it feel unnecessarily prolonged and boring actually. There simply just was way too little of any interest happening throughout the course of the movie.

Now, what keeps the movie afloat and makes up for a less than mediocre storyline was the acting performances put on by Rene Liu and Jing Tseng in the lead roles. While they had little to work with in terms of script and storyline, then they actually put on very convincing and memorable performances. Which ultimately managed to alleviate for a less than mediocre story.

"Murmur of Youth" was nothing outstanding, and it definitely wasn't a particularly memorable one. I am rating it a very mediocre five out of ten stars.