ミレニアム・マンボ（2003）

This review may contain spoilers. Welcome to Vicky's emotional journey. Shu Qi's (24yr or so) naturalistic acting and her typical Taiwanese-mandarin accent plays a big role in portraying the charasmatic female lead. Favorite scene 1: as officers search her apartment for her toxic boyfriend's stolen Rolex, the camera pans back and forth capturing her confusion as she moves through the beaded curtain robed in bath towel and shower cap. Favorite scene 2: as Vicky narrates, in momentary escape from her abusive boyfriend and reaches out to new friends, scene shifts from Taipei bar to winter in Hokkaido. Is this dreamy escape real, or just a hopeful figment of her imagination? It's heart-breaking to judge. (Finally got this crossed on my watchlist since seeing the poster in the toilet of the community arthaus theatre during college)