An emphasis on natural light and sound and use of hand-held cameras heighten the candid intimacy of this beautifully acted drama about young, half-French competitive runner Chang Ching-yang, known familiarly as Yang Yang (wonderfully played by Chinese/French actress Sandrine Pinna, the Taiwanese star whose breakout role was in writer/director Cheng Yu-chieh’s first feature Do Over, 2006). Having been raised by her divorcée mother, Yang Yang knows neither her French father nor his language. Her best friend is Xiao-ru (the equally strong Her Sy-huoy), who is also her coach’s daughter. When Yang Yang’s mother marries her coach, Yang Yang suddenly has the family she has always wanted. But a betrayal shatters the new arrangement, and Yang Yang begins an acting career reluctantly based on her marketable half-French identity as family, career and love become a tangle of contradictions.

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Written by Chen Yu-chieh. Photographed by Chu Ching-wei. With Sandrine Pinna, Chang Ruei-jia, Huang Chien-wei, Her Sy-huoy, Chu Lu-hao, Yu Tai-yan. (111 min, in Mandarin and English with English subtitles, Khan Entertainment)