Fans of a classic Taiwanese New Wave movie gathered in Da’an Forest Park to celebrate the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 in a very different way.
About three thousand people rang in the new year not by cheering or toasting, but by crying in Da’an Forest Park. This unusual style of celebrating pays homage to Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang’s 1994 movie, Vive l'amour, which ends with a long scene featuring actress Yang Kuei-mei (楊貴媚) crying inconsolably on a park bench.
Yang’s character seated alone in the amphitheater and crying for seven minutes is the final scene of the film, and represents the loneliness of life in Taipei in the 90s.
Yang, along with director Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) and fellow star Lee Kang-sheng (李康生), also made an appearance at the event. Yang was seen wiping tears from the corners of her eyes during the screening.
Originally the brainchild of netizen Li Ssu-han (李思翰), the Taiwan Film & Audiovisual Institute helped to organize the event. It attracted the attention of the CNN Travel Channel, which featured a special article on the event and the movie.
The screening not only spotlighted Taiwanese culture, but also made a statement on the importance of mental health. Participants emphasized that “it’s okay not to be okay.”