Blue Cha Cha

The film begins with Ah Yu, played by Taiwanese singer Tarcy Su, being released from prison. We aren’t told why she was there or how long she was in for. She makes her way to the home of a weathered and motherly woman named An-an (Yi-Ching Lu) whom she had come to know in prison. An-an takes her in and gives her job at the hostess bar she operates. After an arranged date doesn’t pan out the way Ah Yu expected, she quits the bar and takes a job at a computer factory. Her relationship with a young supervisor she meets there, along with her ongoing and anchoring relationship with An-an, is the meat of this film. _Blue Cha Cha_ requires patience. That’s code for it being an art house film which moves slowly and doesn’t offer a lot of detail as to why things are happening. Beyond an ambiguous statement near the end of the film revealing why Ah Yu was in prison we never learn anything about her past, and throughout the film it is clear that she has no idea nor concrete desires for her future. She just drifts along, medicated, mentally unstable yet always trying to be nice, hoping each day will offer some measure of fulfillment. _Blue Cha Cha_ isn’t a low-budget indie film, tho. It has excellent production values and looks gorgeous. The direction is fluid and creative and the cinematography crisp and colorful. These kinds of films need good characters and good performances in order to succeed. Blue Cha Cha delivers them. Yi-Ching Lu, who has been in a number of films by Ming-liang Tsai, is always reliable. She’s tough and unafraid to do almost anything as an actress. But the real highlight here is Tarcy Su. She is able to make us care for a character we never learn much about. We’re not always clear about what is going on inside her head but we’re always sure she is experiencing something. It’s surprising how well she is able to articulate a confused yet committed mind without offering any insight as to the details of the matter. There’s a scene where she is lying in bed with a man, staring at him face to face as he drifts in and out of sleep. There is a frightening authenticity to her gaze which offers no explanation as to its genesis.