The Boar King

With a week before final exams and summer vacation, a substitute teacher must prove himself worthy of rehiring.

"I'm a cultured woman, travelling about footloose and fancy-free…”So begins a lilting tune from Taiwan's“Dance Age”of the 1920s and 1930s, a paradoxical time when the island's occupation by Japan also brought youth culture and a measure of artistic freedom. Women smoked cigarettes, love scandals were rife, and risqué Taiwanese pop was born. Embarking on a voyage to visit the surviving singers, composers and record aficionados of the era, this lively historical documentary mixes engaging interviews with catchy songs, haunting period footage, and reenactments of the unrequited romance between the adored chanteuse Chun Chun and her songwriter CHEN Chun-Yu.

The film consists of three stories adapted from Japanese novelist Kanoko Okamoto's Farewell, To The Year Gone By and The House Spirit. Set in modern-day Taiwan, Japan's Yamagata, and Kuala Lumpur, they are the fantastical and humorous depiction of the landscapes of love between men and women in the 21st century. A slap in the face, a voice message, and a storm upend the quiet routine of life. They stir up memories, giving rise to pursuit, revenge and confrontation.