When I sat down to watch the 2022 Taiwanese drama "Tóng Huà Shì Jiè" (aka "Fantasy World") here in 2023, I had never actually heard about the movie. Not that it mattered, because with it being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen, I was already prepared to watch it.
Writer and director Freddy Tang wrote a script that deals with some sensitive material. While it seemed interesting on the synopsis, I must admit that I found the pacing of the narrative in the movie to be way too slow and there just simply wasn't enough happening throughout the 50 minutes of the movie that I managed to sit through. So I ended up tossing the towel in the ring and giving up on finish watching the movie. The storyline simply just was too slow paced for my liking.
But I am sure that with the contents of the storyline and script that a movie such as "Tóng Huà Shì Jiè" is bound to provide entertainment for fans of heavy dramas.
The acting performances in "Tóng Huà Shì Jiè" were good. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but then again, my exposure to the Taiwanese cinema is rather limited. But I definitely were enjoying the performances of the cast, essentially from everyone on the cast list that I managed to see on the screen in the 50 minutes I endured. I have to say that actress Cammy Chiang definitely carried the movie quite well with her performance, as it was a rather convincing and realistic performance she put on.
A shame that "Tóng Huà Shì Jiè" was so slow paced and monotonous, because the contents of the script definitely had something at heart to tell. However, I doubt that I will ever make a return to attempt to finish watching "Tóng Huà Shì Jiè".
My rating of writer and director Freddy Tang's 2022 movie "Tóng Huà Shì Jiè" lands on a four out of ten stars.
