“Life for Sale” is a novel by Yukio Mishima that was first serialised in the weekly magazine Playboy in 1968, and it's the story of a young copywriter for Tokyo Ad who, after a suicide attempt, advertises his own life for sale in a Tokyo newspaper and receives bizarre requests. The concept of Taiwanese writer and director Tom Teng's ambitious first feature “Life for Sale” is based on Mishima's book which also has a meta-appearance in it.
Life for Sale is screening on New York Asian Film Festival
Realising he is in a field where every day he is forced to stick a price tag on people, disheartened life insurance salesman Liang (Fu Meng-po) starts taking into consideration the idea of offing himself. A clumsy attempt to do it swallowing industrial quantity of cinnamon, chewing gum and … carrots, only prove the Internet is not the right place to find suicide methods. That day Liang ends up spending yet another evening drinking beer with his querulous neighbor, single mum Yu-jen (Joanne Tseng) whose teenage son is waiting for a heart transplant. Things precipitate when exasperated Liang punches an annoying co-worker in the face and is fired, while receiving a lesson in how the company considers him only an expendable commodity. His low sale-rate is not worth what they had invested in him, as simple and mathematic as that!
When he finds a copy of Yukio Mishima's novel “Life for Sale” left behind on a bus, Liang decides to follow its lead and put his life up for sale in the paper. The first to show an interest is a shady underworld boss called Mr. Wang (Tsai Ming-shiou), who wants Liang to go and recover his wife's lap dog which has been kidnapped by a rival gangster (Melvin Sia) and his thugs. Enter two mysterious government secret agents. They are searching for a Guinea pig to enroll in a new-drug secret testing, and who's better for that purpose than someone selling his own life? From start to end, a pesky cockroach follows – and sometimes influences – the action, maybe a reminder that their specie is supposed to survive humans.
The plot is certainly stimulating as it is bound to pose lots of questions and generate a vast array of thoughts. Through devaluating the protagonist's existence, the film tries to explore mortality and death and – as a reflection – the meaning and purpose of staying alive. Starting up as a goofy comedy – only a tad black for its suicide subject matter – “Life for Sale” rapidly mutates and takes a turn for a much darker territory after the chance encounter with Mishima's novel. Like in a sort of time-travelling relay race, the book on the bus passes the “absurdity baton” from one “Life for Sale” to the Taiwanese namesake and triggers a chain reaction of mutations. Channeling the camp and extreme spirit of the original source material, the movie twists into a genre mashup of thriller, romance, family drama, noir, comedy, with a touch of sci-fi and a hefty dose of gore.
It is indeed a fun ride for about two thirds of film, but slowly the feeling that there is too much on the plate starts to creep in, until it gets quite difficult to follow what is going on. The narrative starts losing grip, the stream splitting into too many rivulets, with some of them running dry. At the end we are left pondering – which is always a good thing – but less about the meaning of life and more if there is ever going to be a part 2 to round things up, or if this is meant to be the dawn of a new Taiwanese anti-super-hero Universe.
However, there are other things to be savored. The high production value is well on display, the action scenes and the fights are stylish and well-choreographed with a nod to some modern classics, like the notorious corridor fight and the colorful madness of Miike. Cinematography and editing are polished and work together in a virtuous synergy. Fu Meng-po does a good job in his metamorphosis from the initial harmless loser to the final action hero and there is a good interaction and chemistry with Joanne Tseng. It is just a shame that her character feels “un-finished” and very inconsistent, leaving and re-entering the plot in a confusing manner.
Al in all, “Life for Sale” is a great display of the excellent Taiwanese Cinema potentials. An enjoyable piece of entertaining and eye-pleasing action that will certainly delight those willing to forgive its plot missteps.
