Three Makes a Whole

Three female legends of Taiwan cinema make whole the latest work by director Zero Chou. In the 1970s and 80s, filmmaker Liu Li-li famously adapted numerous works by romance novelist Chiung Yao. Rather than simply following the biopic format, Chiung Yao, credited with the story of Three Makes a Whole, returns the favor, paying tribute to Liu with a tangled melodrama befitting the romances of youthful idealism that made them both famous. We meet Liu as a young woman finding her narrative voice in the stage, and later film, while juggling romance with a married director. Rather than spinning into a sensationalist work of rival lovers and artists, the film makes room for a sneakily revolutionary co-existence and collaboration that is both an homage to and a revitalization of the love triangle format that made Chiung Yao and Liu Li-li famous. (San Diego Asian Film Festival)