Yang houses his characters in monstrous high rises from which they can survey the entire city. His Taipei is almost a sentient creature, watchful and observant of its inhabitants. Video surveillance cameras are seemingly everywhere recording daily life. Computer games designed by NJ s company mimic violence on the evening news. Mirrors and glass lining the walls of apartments reflect home life s smallest details.
Nothing goes unnoticed.
Or so it seems. Bereft of a nucleus, the pieces of NJ s family start to drift apart quietly, almost unnoticeably. His curiosity compels him to submerge his head in a sink full of water to know what swimming is like. And it is he who delivers the movie s final speech, na ve but perceptive, asking questions that the rest of his family would never think to ponder. When she falls in love with her friend s ex-boyfriend, she finds herself in the middle of jealousies and passions she can t fathom.