''Heartbreak Island'' is a 1995 Taiwanese drama film directed by Hsu Hsiao-ming. The film follows a recently released woman prisoner as she visits her ex who was arrested in the 1979

Kaohsiung Incident The Kaohsiung Incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, the Meilidao Incident, or the ''Formosa Magazine'' incident,tang was a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations that occurred in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on 10 December 1979 during Taiwan's ...

but released before her. The film makes extensive use of flashbacks to illustrate the woman's thoughts. Writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

wrote: "The mood of ''Heartbreak Island'' is so glumly monochromatic that the characters remain at a chilly distance, and the movie remains locked in its own sealed-off sense of despair."

Cast

Vicky Wei Vicky, Vicko, Vick, Vickie or Vicki is a feminine given name, often a hypocorism of Victoria. The feminine name Vicky in Greece comes from the name Vasiliki. Women * Family nickname of Victoria, Princess Royal (1840–1901), wife of German ...

as Chen Linlang **Chen Yishan as Chen Linlang (child) *King Jieh-wen as Wang Rong, former dissident, Chen Linlang's former teacher and lover *Chang Ching-ju as An-an, Wang Rong's wife *Wen Ying as Wang Rong's mother *Chang Chiao-ling as Chiao-ling, An-an's younger sister *

Tsai Chen-nan Tsai Chen-nan (; born 26 July 1954) is a Taiwanese actor and singer. Tsai was invited by the Hsinkang Foundation of Culture and Education to perform in Xingang, Chiayi, by the organization founder Chen Chin-huang, who sought to mitigate the eff ...

as Jin Guang, former dissident who wants to run for president *Lin Ju as former dissident running a night market business *Meng Ting-li as Chen Linlang's ex-classmate and friend *Tien Meng as Chen Linlang's neighbor in the

military dependents' village A military dependents' village () is a community in Taiwan built in the late 1940s and the 1950s whose original purpose was to serve as provisional housing for soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines of the Republic of China Armed Forces, along ...

*Lo Bin as Wang Rong's father (flashback) *Wang Hsin-ju as Chen Linlang's mother (flashback) *

Chyi Chin Chyi Chin (; born 12 January 1960) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter and actor. Early life Chyi was born in Taichung, Taiwan. When he was young, his father had a strict daily regimen of study that started at 5 am. His studies varied from ...

as pub singer

Accolades

1995 Cannes Film Festival The 48th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 1995. The Palme d'Or went to '' Underground'' by Emir Kusturica. The festival opened with ''La Cité des enfants perdus'', directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and closed with '' The Quick and t ...

* Screened at the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...

parallel section. 1996

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

*Won—

Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) is a worldwide organization of 29 member countries. It was created as the result of a conference on Asian cinema organized by Cinemaya, the Asian Film Quarterly, in New Delhi in 1990 at the inst ...

Award (tied with ''

Nostalgia for Home Country Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", a Homeric word, ...

'')

References

External links

* * Films set in Taiwan Films shot in Taiwan Taiwanese romantic drama films 1990s Mandarin-language films Hokkien-language films Films with screenplays by Kuo Cheng Films directed by Hsu Hsiao-ming 1995 romantic drama films 1995 films {{1990s-romantic-drama-film-stub