停车, Parking; An In Depth View of a Problematic Social Structure

Did I mention awesome cover...and great soundtrack music??

Parking (2008), a thought provoking movie by director Chung Mong-Hong and starred by the renowned Chang Chen, is the first movie that deserves my five out of five stars rating. It is a beautiful story that perfectly mixes simple emotions/characteristics like love, kindness, humor, and sympathy with the complicated darkness of Chinese/Taiwanese social and government structures. Very creepy, yet heartwarming.

On Mother’s Day, Chen-Mo (Chang Chen) a kind yet niave man, plans a dinner date with his wife (Kwai Lun-mei), trying to improve their near-disastrous relationship. As he buys a gorgeous cake, a car blocks his parking space. Up until midnight, Chen-Mo searches for the owner of the car, encountering a wierd events and eccentric people: an old couple who lost their only son; a one-armed barbershop owner with an interesting past; a mainland Chinese prostitute trying to escape her pimp’s cruel clutches; and a plump Hong-Kong tailor beaten by underground loan sharks. This is the kind of story where different segments of different characters' lives come together to create a big picture for Chen-Mo, one that he learns a lesson from.

I am not usually a fan of Taiwanese films, because they are too slow, too superficial, and too 'cute' for my liking, but wow this one is a mind-blower. This film gives me a whole new sense of being. Worth a watch, but not for the really light-hearted movie-goer.

Here are some reviews:

As with most Taiwanese productions, Parking is never in any great hurry to tell its story, and lets events unfurl at a leisurely pace, however first-time writer-director-cinematographer Chung Mong-Hong remains in careful control throughout. The script is darkly comic, with the audience guiltily sucked in by the escalating schadenfreude that drives the narrative forward. Those familiar with this type of narrative, essentially Orpheus with bubble tea, will realize that only the dawn can hope to bring salvation for Chen Mo, and until then he may very well be taken to hell and back and forced to face demons long buried beneath a routine of mundane complacency. Chung’s cinematography effectively simulates Chen Mo’s mounting sleep deprivation, slowly creating a soft-focused, dream-like atmosphere as events become increasingly other-worldly.  -- http://www.bcmagazine.net/

Swinging delicately between offbeat comedy, gangster thriller and arthouse melodrama, Parking is a kaleidoscopic little film that never ceases to fascinate with its inspired originality – not to mention its enchanting score, crisp editing and dazzling cinematography. -- http://www.timeout.com.hk/


Wonderful, out-of-expectation production. Best I have seen of Chang Chen yet. This Weds, get ready for a Korean romantic movie!