Rating 3/5

Fusing arthouse sensibilities with a melodramatic love story to mixed effect, newish Taiwanese director Wei Te-Sheng’s multiple winner at the 2008 Golden Horse Awards (Taiwan’s Oscar equivalent), including Outstanding Film and Outstanding Filmmaker of the year, is an enjoyable, if unoriginal film with multiple plots that are as touching as they are hackneyed.
Often sloppy, random and haphazard, Cape No. 7 succeeds with its relatively talented cast and director Wei’s penchant for everyday, mundane humor, which can often be quite funny; but the overall narrative remains a mess. At the core of all the film’s various threads is the predictable love story between struggling musician Aga (Van Fan) and has-been model Tomoko (an excruciating Chie Tanaka, who overacts throughout the film). Tomoko is the irritant tasked to put together an opening act for a beach concert by real-life Japanese superstar Kousuke Atari. The band includes a group of unlikely misfits, including Aga, drummer Frog (a funny Ying Wei-Min) and bassists Malasun (Ma Nien-Hsien) and Rauma (Min-Hsiung). The group banters as much as they argue, and their rapport is effortless and engaging. However, that can’t be said about the strained chemistry between actors Van Fan and Chie Tanaka, as director Wei fails to draw out any real emotions from them, choosing to draw parallels between their relationship and that of a mysterious Japanese teacher and a Taiwanese girl some 60 years before.
True, it must have been quite a feat to put Cape No.7 together, as it features numerous crowd scenes and a giant cast, but a lot of these set pieces are shabbily treated. It’s not until the final 15 minutes when the band gets together for their performance at the beach that the film’s magic is apparent. Otherwise, Cape No.7 is an uneven if novel film marred by patchy moments and a silly premise. Terry Ong