When Love Comes (film)

When Love Comes (Chinese title: 當愛來的時候) is the 6th film directed by Taiwanese filmmaker, Chang Tso-Chi. A mixture of social drama and tragicomedy, When Love Comes, unlike Chang Tso-Chi's previous works that focused on male subjects and themes, When Love Comes explores, for the very first time, the female perspective, with the main theme revolving around an underage girl who becomes pregnant before marriage. "It is the women who lead the world in this film. They are the makers, they take the decisions for themselves and their families." It is a film that delves into the themes of romance, kinship, and personal growth.

When Love Comes was invited to be screened and featured at numerous international film festival and awards, including the BFI London International Film Festival as a showcase film, the 10th Kaohsiung Film Festival in Taiwan as the opening film, and the Busan International Film Festival in Asia as part of the Masterclass section. It received fourteen nominations, including Best Narrative Feature and Best Director, at the 47th Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards, making When Love Comes the film with the most nominations at the festival. In the end, it won four awards, including Best Narrative Feature, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and the Audience Choice Award.

"A chronicle of displacements, cultural, familial, adolescent, and romantic, When Loves Comes is also in its own way an ode to female solidarity as well as a coming-of-age tale as its feisty young heroine gains the courage to step into herself while preparing for the role of matriarch in accepting her responsibility towards those around her." When Love Comes explores various forms of dependency. On the one hand, the material dependency forces the family to hold onto the seafood restaurant and succumb to the influence of the local gangsters. On the other hand, emotional dependencies can be seen as both burdensome and supportive. The film delves into the concept of family, emphasizing that family is not only made up of members connected by blood. Instead, it advocates for an alternative notion of family that prioritizes a sense of community, where individuals care for each other without emphasizing degrees of kinship. Within this framework, When Love Comes also examines the theme of motherhood and the diverse expressions it can take. Ultimately, When Love Comes is a remarkable coming-of-age story, wherein a 16-year-old young woman discovers the love bestowed upon her and realizes its transformative power for everyone in her family.

In When Love Comes, Chang Tso-chi continues his concern for lower-middle-class family issues and skillfully handles the conflicts within families that most people have experienced. One of the most striking aspects is the realistic childbirth scene, where Chang Tso-chi even includes a real newborn baby and authentically portrays the process of cutting the umbilical cord, adding a heightened sense of realism to the film. Additionally, actress Chiu Hsiu-Min, who played Mou Zhongfu's mother in When Love Comes and who won the Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Horse Awards for her role as Ah Chung's mother in Chang Tso-chi's 1996 film Ah Chung, made a final on-screen appearance in this film despite her illness.

Synopsis
In this heartfelt and highly acclaimed film directed by Chang Tso-chi, women take the lead, and their roles as the heads of their families are deeply and carefully explored. Considered as one of his finest works, When Love Comes intricately captures the symphony of family dynamics. Set in a suburban seafood restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, the death of a family member brings forth hidden truths and secrets.

Plot
While focusing on the theme of underage pregnancy, the film not only explores social issues but also intricately portrays the complexities and conflicts within a three generational Taiwanese family.

Dark Face is the son-in-law who married into Da Ma Hsueh-feng's family. He and his lover, Zhi-hua, have a child, Laichun, together. Sharing the same belief that Dark Face must continue on the family name, Da Ma, accepts Zhi-hua as Dark Face's second wife and takes Laichun into her family. The family runs a seafood restaurant for a living. Laichun's uncle is autistic but has a talent for painting. He sometimes takes Laichun for birdwatching.

In this environment of decline and decay, Laichun, who dislikes studying and has an on-and-off relationship with her boyfriend Mou Zhongyu (played by Wu Kang-ren), experiences a great sense of insecurity. Laichun, feeling the abyss between her and her parents, ends up getting pregnant from her sexual relationship with Mou Zongfu. On her birthday, Laichun gets scolded by Er Ma Zi-hua for chatting about her sex life with her classmates. Later, Laichun takes a pregnancy test and finds out she is pregnant. At a loss, she desperately tries to contact Mou Zongfu, who takes no responsibility and has run away with another woman. After accidentally getting pregnant, the long-suppressed resentment and dissatisfaction among the family members finally explode. Hit with a wall, Laichun and Da Ma are struck by the accidental pregnancy, for which Dark Face shouts madly at Laichun. Faced with her father's stern reproach, Laichun angrily considers abortion. In a heated argument during a family dinner, Laichun, who has always felt pitiful about her stepmother, harshly wounds her with hurtful words. However, the family is forced to reconsider their ways of living together in this tense atmosphere, and the seemingly unchangeable fate slowly starts to turn towards a positive direction. When Dark Face passes away after being hospitalized for a sudden illness, Laichun begins to understand her father and her two mother, and decide with her family to keep the baby.

Cast
All the talents listed above, except Laichung, Lai-Jih, and Dark Face, used their real names in the film.
 * Lu Laichung, played by Lee Yi-Chieh: A young girl who grew up in a bustling seafood restaurant. Coming from a dysfunctional family, she constantly argues with her father and birth mother.
 * Laichun's uncle, Ah-Jie, played by Kao Meng-chieh: Laichun's autistic uncle who has a talent for painting. He sometimes takes Laichun for birdwatching.
 * Da Ma (Dark Face's First Wife), Hsueh-feng, played by Lu Hsueh-feng: Struggled with infertility, Da Ma is constantly annoyed by her husband, Dark Face's gaming and drinking habits. She eventually takes on the role of the household head more than her own husband.
 * Laichun's father, Dark Face, played by Lin Yu-Shun (Dark Face): Dark Faces' outbursts of rage has become his only opportunity to vent his anger.
 * Er Ma (Dark Face's Second Wife), played by He Zi-hua
 * Lu Lai-Jih, played by Li Pin-I
 * Grandfather, played by Wei Jen-Ching
 * Laichun's boyfriend, Mou Zongfu, played by Wu Kang-ren (special appearance)
 * Mou Zhongfu's mother, played by Chiu Hsiu-Min (special guest appearance)
 * Funeral Director, played by Fan Chih-Wei (special guest appearance)
 * Gangster Yi-che, played by Tseng Yi-che (special guest appearance)

Original Soundtrack
The original soundtrack of When Love Comes is composed by Wu Rui-Ran, a celebrated Taiwanese composer in both Europe and Asia. Wu Rui-Ran is also an accordionist in a tango orchestra and serves as the music director of a theater company. When Love Comes 's original soundtrack, featuring instruments such as piano, strings, and accordion, recreates the melancholic atmosphere depicted in the film. The theme song "The Other Side" is produced by Lin Shang-De, who also writes the lyrics and music for the song, and performed by the newcomer actress, Lee Yi-Chieh.

Soundtracks

 * 1) Greyish-blue Clear Sky (灰藍晴空)
 * 2) Stream Breeze (溪風)
 * 3) Enclosed Room (閉室)
 * 4) Lonesome Humming (孤吟)
 * 5) Rose-colored Scent (玫瑰色的氣味)
 * 6) Pendulum Swing in the Dark (暗夜鐘擺)
 * 7) Spreading Wings (展翼)
 * 8) The Loneliness of the Silver-grass Grassland (芒草原的寂寞)
 * 9) Warm Autumn Wind (暖秋風)
 * 10) Wandering in the Valley (漫步山谷)
 * 11) Gliding (飛翔)
 * 12) Eighty-five Thousand Six Hundred and Thirty-seven (八萬五千六百三十七)
 * 13) Sun shower (太陽雨)
 * 14) The Other Side (彼岸)（Lyrics and music written by Lin Shang-De; performed by Lee Yi-Chieh)
 * 15) Rose-colored Spring (玫瑰色的春天)
 * 16) Flaming Fire (烈焰)