Finding the Courage for Independence Within Love in Taipei

Mixed Asian Media - August 30, 2023

By Ryan Cotter

This review contains spoilers for Love in Taipei.

While rom-coms can be quite enjoyable from time to time, as an aromantic person I often find it hard to relate to the genre. However, what intrigued me about the film Love in Taipei is how it’s centered on the protagonist’s coming of age as she learns to balance respecting her parents’ sacrifices for her while living on her own terms. While the film falls into the tropes of the rom-com genre, it’s still enjoyable in its own right for its effective delivery of its message and interesting relationship dynamics.

Based on the novel Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen, Love in Taipei follows Ever Wong (Ashley Liao), an American rising premed student whose parents send her off to a cultural-immersion school in Taipei that the students nickname “Loveboat” so she can learn Mandarin and get more integrated with her Taiwanese roots. Ever goes along with her parents' plan merely to please them. However, unbeknownst to them, she pursues her own interest of dance by secretly preparing an audition for a prestigious New York dance troupe. On top of that, Ever navigates her relationships with “Boy Wonder” Rick Woo (Ross Butler) and the free-spirited artist Xavier Yeh (Nico Hiraga, who, like his character, is mixed Asian!).

I really appreciated how Rick, Xavier — who goes by Xav — and their relationships with Ever develop the film’s theme of boldly living life on your own terms in the face of familial expectations. Rick is the stereotypical child your parents would point to and say, “Why can’t you be more like him?” Indeed, Ever’s mother has done that to her multiple times and regularly saves the covers of World Journal he graces, much to Ever’s disdain. However, once Ever and Rick grow closer, we see that the grass is not greener on the other side. Rick suffers from the pressures of living up to his parents’ expectations just as much as (if not more than) Ever, and we learn he’s pursuing finance and football not for himself, but because his parents want him to. It is this pressure that not only holds him back from pursuing his true passion of food and cooking, but that ultimately ruins his budding romance with Ever. A similar arc occurs with Rick’s cousin and Ever’s roommate, Sophie. The adherence to family expectations is especially surprising for Sophie, as throughout the film she does the most to convince Ever to break school curfew so she can go out and have fun in Taipei. Rick and Sophie provide an interesting look as to how even young people can continue toxic generational patterns of merely basing their lives off of family expectations if they are not careful. However, at the end of the film Sophie learns to overcome this, with her future partner being a similar free spirit to Xav, while Rick remains unliberated from his conflict, continuing down the path his parents laid out for him. Rick serves as the film’s cautionary tale for what could happen if you do not find the courage to live your life on your own terms.

Xav is the opposite when it comes to familial expectations. A talented artist who is not afraid to be goofy and embrace the present moment, he is the closest thing the film has to a “bad boy.” However, being the son of a prestigious family in Taipei, living life outside of the traditional familial expectations isn’t without consequences for Xav, with his father confronting him about his lifestyle. While upset by this, Xav does not internalize his father’s disappointment and expectations, continuing to not only authentically live his life, but to support Ever in doing so for herself and to make the most of what they have in the present. I really appreciated the realism in Ever being less certain than before as to what she wants for her future at the end of the film once her initial plan of pursuing the dance team goes bust, as well as the comfort in finding greater peace with herself than before after she gains the courage to confess to her parents that she’s not passionate about becoming a doctor.  Xav is the film’s closest thing to a best-case scenario in not letting your family’s expectations take control of how you live your life, and his friendship with Ever helps her do the same.

I also really liked how the love triangle structure was pursued in this film, with Rick and Xav never fighting over Ever’s love like immature children or denying Ever her own agency. I also appreciated the film’s unique execution of the trope, as it wasn’t that Ever initially pursued both of them romantically, but rather she explored a relationship with Rick, and then when that didn’t work out Xav stepped up to support her in a way Rick simply couldn’t.

Despite Love in Taipei’s unique approach to the love triangle trope and effective exploration of its theme with its love interests, Ever was a forgettable protagonist, with her character being indistinguishable from other young-adult leads in the rom-com genre. Sophie had a similar problem, coming across as a carbon copy of the “extroverted rom-com best friend.” Additionally, while Ever being in Taiwan as an American reinforces her thematic discomfort with being stuck between two worlds, I wish we got to see more examples of Ever overcoming the learning curve of studying Chinese and adapting to Taiwanese culture. Having studied Mandarin for many years myself, I know that there’s so much comedic potential to be had in all the mix-ups that can come from a language that’s not only drastically different from English, but that’s also so complex to the point where one stroke or different pronunciation can result in an entirely different meaning. This could have also better reinforced the film’s message on the value of serving your present community. Imagine how much more meaningful it could have been for Ever to go from struggling to order in Mandarin from a street vendor to her proficiently speaking Mandarin when inviting the vendors to the fundraiser she puts on.

Ultimately, while the film left much to be desired in the delivery of its themes and blended in with other rom-coms, it was still an enjoyable watch. Rom-com fans can appreciate it for its effective thematic execution, especially those who are in a similar position to Ever and facing anxiety about the uncertainty of the future and high familial expectations. 

Love in Taipei is available on Paramount+.

Ryan is a student currently based in Washington (the state, not D.C.). She grew up as a third-culture kid in Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore, and most recently has studied abroad in Denmark! She is a woman of many hats both literally and figuratively, as you can see her stage managing theatre productions, writing with her sketch comedy group, creating podcasts, and performing with her Asian diaspora dance group X-ertion among other places! She has also been a guest contributor for the Wall Street Journal. She is a passionate advocate for radical joy. You can spot her 3 miles away in her brightly colored outfits FaceTiming her mom, hanging with friends, or attending the latest play or drag show.