During her pre-wedding shoot, a journalist, Li-mei Huang (Yu-Wei Shao), tells the photographer to take a picture of her standing with her father, Chih-te Huang (Mark Lee). This innocuous request makes her husband, Ta-Wei Lin (Shao Tsung Tseng), a bit uncomfortable. Even when the three of them take a picture together, the husband uneasily looks at her wife when she holds the hands of her father. Li-mei's love for Chih-te becomes crystal clear. Later, Ta-wei's discomfort with this closeness is made explicit when he confesses his feelings in front of Li-mei. Lost in Perfection heavily underlines the father-daughter love so that it can exploit it for drama later. That opportunity arises when Chih-te expresses his wish to marry Hsiu-lan Ho (Mei-Hsiu Lin), who is soon labeled "Unattractive Femme Fatale." Jeez! People can be so ungracious!
The people give Hsiu-lan this label because the police are after her. The police are after Hsiu-lan because they suspect her of taking money from her boyfriends and then killing them. She is a murderer, and Li-mei thinks her dad is the next target. Being a concerned daughter, she does everything possible to break up this bond. This includes using her journalism powers to create a solid case against this female killer. But Hsiu-lan confidently pleads innocence. Of course, most criminals say they are blameless, but even Chih-te strongly believes his new lover is innocent. According to this so-called femme fatale, all the boyfriends committed suicide when they got to know she was breaking up with them. Wow. I guess you can also call her The Heartbreak Killer. The question here is simple: Is Hsiu-lan guilty? The answers, we learn, are a little complicated.
One of the obvious takeaways from this film is that media is all about manipulation. Facts are sensationalized, and distorted for turning the tables. The roots of corruption are deep, and the one familiar with its extent, its potential will easily manage to climb the ladder of success. One of the newbies admires Li-mei's achievements and tells her she wants to be like her. With her big, bright eyes and a broad smile, she praises Li-mei for her honesty and her dedication. What she doesn't know is that her role model often employs devious methods for achieving results (she edits a video in a certain way to put Hsiu-lan under more dirt). Still, Li-mei is not terrible. She is just surviving in this world.
Yu-Wei Shao brings sensuality and assurance to this role. Her petite face, at one moment, becomes sultry, and the next turns tough and eager. Mark Lee exudes such a lonely aura that you understand why his character would be attracted to a seemingly kind and caring woman, even if everybody screams that this woman is dangerous. Chih-te makes you see how intensely he trusts Hsiu-lan. Then there is Mei-Hsiu Lin, who enjoys swinging between malice and guiltlessness. She keeps you in doubt regarding the motives of her character. After a while, I wasn't sure if she was bad or good or pretending to be good.
Lost in Perfection tries to be emotional, but it's far from affecting. It fails whenever it reaches for "seriousness." Despite the measures it takes to establish the connection between the father and the daughter, a major sad event doesn't manage to fill us with shock or distress. The thing about Lost in Perfection is that while watching it, I felt as if it was wildly shifting between being slick and trash. Perhaps it's meant to be a slick trash (notice how the camera shakes when Li-mei is disoriented). Anyway, the movie is pretty much watchable - until you start thinking about that ending, which fills you with confusion. By the end, you realize there is another lesson here - that those feminist statements Hsiu-lan gives inside the court (such as why should a woman live with a man who has erectile dysfunction?) have a purpose.
Lost in Perfection (the title doesn't make sense) says that men are so terrible that they leave women with no choice, thus turning them into murderers. That doctor plays video games instead of cleaning up the mess, and his wife thinks about a fatal incident and smiles, suggesting she will repeat the same act. But will she, though? She could very well be feeling amused by the whole event. Director Sung Hsin-yin goes for that ending so that this film could spark such discussions and, as a result, remain in our heads for more (undeserving) hours. Otherwise, nothing about Lost in Perfection warrants a second look or debate. It's just okay and breezy enough to pass your time on a lazy day.
Final Score- [5.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times