''52 Hz, I Love You'' () is a 2017

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Wei Te-sheng Wei Te-sheng (born 16 August 1969) is a Taiwanese film director and screenwriter. He directed ''Cape No. 7'', currently the highest grossing domestic Taiwanese film and the second highest-grossing film in Taiwanese film history. Early life We ...

. It was released on 26 January 2017.

Premise

''52Hz, I Love You'' comprises various love stories set in modern

Taipei City , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Countr ...

on Valentine's Day. The title of the film references the

52-hertz whale The 52-hertz whale, colloquially referred to as 52 Blue, is an individual whale of unidentified species that calls at the unusual frequency of 52 hertz. This is a higher frequency than usual for any whale species with migration patterns mo ...

, described as "the world's loneliest whale" as no other whales can hear its unusual frequency call. This serves as a metaphor for loneliness and finding love.

Cast

* Lin Zhong-yu as Ang *Zhuang Juan-ying as Xin * Suming as Da-he *Mify Chen as Lei

Cameo appearance

Sandrine Pinna Sandrine Pinna (; born 10 April 1987) is a Taiwanese actress who started her career as a child actress and appeared in many advertisements. Early life Sandrine Pinna was born on 10 April 1987 to a Taiwanese mother and a French father, who was ...

as Qi * Nana Lee as Mei *Lin Ching-tai as Dong *Cyndi Chao as Xin's Aunt *Cheng Wei-da as Xin's Brother *Sun Ruei as Girlfriend of Xin's Brother * Van Fan as Band Member *

Ma Nien-hsien Ma Nien-hsien (; born 1973) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter and actor. Debuting as a member of funk rock band Sticky Rice in 1997, Ma rose to fame in Asia with the band's second album ''The Bird King''. He later pursued careers in music and acti ...

as Band Member *Min Hsiung as Band Member * Ying Wei-min as Band Member * Chie Tanaka as Server * Shino Lin as Server *Joanne Yang as Server * Ma Ju-lung as Customer *Pei Hsiao-lan as Customer *

Ko Wen-je Ko Wen-je ( zh, c=柯文哲; born 6 August 1959), also known by his nickname, Ko P, is a Taiwanese politician and physician who served as the Mayor of Taipei, mayor of Taipei from 2014 to 2022. He founded the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) in 201 ...

as himself * Allison Limmer as extra

Soundtrack

Reception

Box office

As of 4 March 2017, ''52Hz, I Love You'' grossed NT$45.5 million (), against a production budget of NT$80 million (). In Taiwan, ''52Hz, I Love You'' was released alongside domestic productions ''The Village of No Return'' and ''Hanky Panky'', and Hollywood films ''Resident Evil: The Final Chapter'', ''Moana'' and ''Hidden Figures'', and was projected to gross NT$100 million over the

Lunar New Year Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year based on lunar calendars or, informally, lunisolar calendars. Lunar calendar years begin with a new moon and have a fixed number of lunar months, usually twelve, in contrast to lunisolar calendar ye ...

holiday frame. It went on to make NT$22.8 million () in its opening weekend, ranking seventh at the Taipei box office. With the film's box office performance in Taiwan, the film was considered a

box office disappointment A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

, making it one of the lowest-grossing films from

. The filmmaker had previously directed the financially successful '' Cape No. 7'' (2008) and '' Seediq Bale'' (2011), namely the highest and second- highest grossing domestic film of all time at the Taiwan box office. In an interview, Wei stated that the film's overall financial success will depend on its international distribution and VOD sales, as well as merchandising sales revenue.

Critical response

Elizabeth Kerr of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' said, "predictable though it may be, Wei has been careful to replicate the whimsical ebbs, flows and beats required of the form, and ''52Hz, I Love You'' captures the cotton candy essence of the musical romance rather effectively." Edmund Lee of ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

'' rated it 2.5/5 stars and wrote that the film "proves to be a pleasant trifle, which does a far more effective job of pleasing the ear than stirring the heart".

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 6327400 2017 films Taiwanese musical drama films 2010s Mandarin-language films 2010s musical drama films Films directed by Wei Te-sheng 2017 drama films 2017 musical films