Till We Meet Again

Alan dies young in a freak weather accident. In the afterlife he has not accumulated the credit needed to be reborn as anything better than a snail; his other option is to sign up as a trainee love god. He takes it. Alongside him is Pinky, a schoolgirl in the same position. The two will tie fated people together with red string that comes from their fingers. The largest task Alan is given is this: to tie Xiao-mi, the woman he loved while alive, to somebody else. Giddens Ko writes and directs, from his own novel. The cast includes Kai Ko, Gingle Wang, Vivian Sung and Umin Boya. The red string comes from Chinese folk belief: the god called Yue Lao, whose name is the film's original title, ties fated people together with an invisible red thread. The narrative begins as fantasy comedy and turns to melodrama in the second half; the transition is abrupt. Giddens Ko was known for You Are the Apple of My Eye, and this counted as his most discussed work since. Computer effects are used heavily and the design of the afterlife is at an unusual scale for Taiwanese cinema. It opened the Bucheon fantastic film festival on 8 July 2021 and was released in Taiwan on 24 November 2021. Who it is for: viewers who like Taiwanese fantasy romance and afterlife narratives. Who it is not for: the emotional pitch is very high, the narrative scatters in the second half, and the rules keep changing.