THE CABBIE (Taiwan, 2000)
Directed by: Chang Hwa-kun & Chen Yi-wen
Written by: Su Chao-pinStarring: Rie Miyazawa, Chu Chung-heng, Cheung Ka-nin

Su Da-chuan comes from the closest thing Taiwan has to the Addams Family. His mom is a local coroner who keeps a pickled human head on her desk. His dad is a car crash enthusiast who loves nothing more than seeing Toyotas and Hondas smash into each other outside his cab company. And his sister spends her time brewing up exotic drugs in the back office. As for Su himself? He’s a cabbie who works for his dad and he spends all day ferrying a gallery of emotional freaks, pregnant women and lonely lovers around Taipei. But then, Su falls in love. The only problem is that the object of his devotion is a traffic cop (Japanese actress Rie Miyazawa, returning to the screen after a five year absence) who lives to give speeding tickets. She’s got no time for love, but that’s okay, because Su can get tickets if that’s what he needs to do to be in her presence, even briefly. He can get lots of tickets.

Black comedy at its finest, this box office success represented a threeway collaboration of odd talents. Co-director Chang is art film grandmaster, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s longtime producer, making his directorial debut alongside Chen, who was a former assistant director to Edward Yang (Yi Yi). Joining them is sophomore screenwriter, Su Chao-pin (a guest of this year’s festival and co-director of Reign of Assassins). With a script based on Su’s long years spent driving a cab, this wry meta-movie never stops boiling over with invention. Whether it’s addresses to the camera, ridiculously absurd set pieces or family dinners that fast-forward through the boring parts, it’s a movie that, even eleven years later, is so young, punchy and full of pep that you half expect it to hop off the screen and take you out for a night of beer and karaoke.