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Short Film Review: A New Year’s Dance (2023) by Szu-Wei Chen

A New Year's Dance (2023) by Szu-Wei Chen
"Of course. How can I forget"

The alienation of the megalopolis has always been an issue that particularly “hit” immigrants, and even more so during the holidays. Szu-Wei Chen focuses on the concept in order to present a very interesting 17-minute short, that highlights the fact with a pinch of intrigue.

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Yu is a middle-aged woman who has been living in New York for two decades, working in an acupuncture/chiropractor parlor. She has a group of friends who seem to have her back but she is longing for some romantic connection, which is what makes her finally start considering the advances of Mr Wang, a married dance enthusiast, during the Lunar Year. Her friends are somewhat judgmental when they find out, but that does not deter her. Life, however, seems to have other plans for her.

Szu-Wei Chen directs a very appealing short that manages to combine the aforementioned concept with drama, nostalgia, intrigue and a bittersweet sense that works quite well in terms of aesthetics. The concept of missed chance adds to the dramatic essence of the movie, but the message in the end, moves more towards the sweet rather than the bitter path, with the director stating that following your heart is always a good choice, particularly when one has very little to lose.

Apart from context, “A New Year’s Dance” also thrives on its aesthetics, with the combination of Lee C. Zhang’s cinematography, the overall coloring, and Chen’s own editing resulting in a series of very appealing images, that mirror the context to perfection.

Sherry Li as Yu us quite good both in highlighting her inner struggle and her agony later on, even without that many lines. as Mr. Wang is also good in his cheeky kind-heartedness, with their chemistry being on rather good level too.

“A New Year’s Dance” is a very meaningful, well-shot and well-acted film, that manages to eloquently present its comments while remaining entertaining from beginning to end.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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