It's a bit unnerving knowing that I, too, was a high school student living in Taipei in the late 90s when this was shot. It's all just so incredibly familiar, down to having the same bird doorbell (which, granted, is a fairly common doorbell in Taiwan). How did I avoid wandering into the picture? And at the same time, the setting feels distinctly aged, has that much time passed? (Yes, it has, and it makes me feel old. Lady Bird stirs many of the same feelings. But I'm glad that we no longer wear gigantic pants.) I'm not sure how I'd explain the movie in order to recommend it to anyone else but there's such a fine balance between each of the family members' lives and within each personal story, you can't help but to be drawn in.

Also, the mean teacher being a KMT voter is a perfect detail.

(My mom informs me that my uncle and aunt are in the piano bar scene but the director paired them off with different people)