Chung Mong-hong's first feature
Parking is a blackly comic drama set during one night in Taipei. Chen Mo's car is blocked in the early evening as he's trying to buy a cake to take to his wife. Through the course of the evening, Chen attempts, with little success, to extricate himself and his car from a series of predicaments, some hilariously Tati-esque, others more violent and sordid, still others on the edge of fantasy.
Looking for the driver of the double parked car, Chen meets an elderly couple and their orphaned grandchild, who seem to mistake him for the child's missing father. He plays along, out of sympathy, then meets, in succession, a one-armed barber with a shady past, a nervous tailor hiding out from Mafia goons, and a former mainland factory worker kept virtually imprisoned by her nasty Taiwanese pimp. Each character's background is revealed in stylized flashbacks, including Chen's own, when we discover the significance of the cake he wants to deliver to his wife throughout the course of that frustrating night.
Beautifully shot, with stunningly coloured tableaux, vividly hallucinatory imagery and an energetic camera whose unorthodox framings and movements make an indelible impression. A parade of Taiwan's finest actors take leading roles (Jack Gao, Kuei Lun-mei, Leon Dai), but the film is anchored by young star Chang Chen's fascinating, richly realized performance as Chen Mo.
VIFF acknowledges the support of the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office, Vancouver in presenting the films from Taiwan.
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