My Missing Valentine

Chen Yu-hsun's 2020 Taiwanese film starts from a simple fantastic premise: Xiao Chi, who has been looking for love, is asked out on the eve of Valentine's Day, then wakes the next morning to find the day has gone by. What begins as a mystery about a missing day switches point of view in the second half and goes somewhere else entirely, unsettling the romantic comedy template. That second-half turn caused argument in Taiwan on release: the time one character spends with a person who has no knowledge of it and gave no consent sits uncomfortably inside the romantic frame the film offers. Watching without knowing makes the film easier to love, but the problem does not disappear. It won several Golden Horse awards, including best film. Who it's for: viewers who like Taiwanese cinema, romantic comedy with fantastic elements, and films that play with narrative structure. Who it's not for: anyone troubled by a question of consent presented as a romantic gesture, or who will find the first half slow.