Taipei Exchanges

Doris opens a small, tasteful coffee shop in Taipei. The presents from the opening leave her with a pile of useless objects. Her younger sister Josie has an idea: they will use the things for barter. Before long the shop turns into a place of exchange, and people start bringing in not objects but stories. Hsiao Ya-chuan's Taiwanese film asks how the value of a thing is decided: by its price, or by the memory it carries. One day a traveller brings thirty-five bars of soap from different parts of the world into the shop and tells the story of each. Gwei Lun-mei plays Doris. The tone is light, the pace slow, and the film makes Taipei look warm.