by FilmInk Staff
2 July 6:30 @Event Cinemas George St, Sydney
🏆 Awards 獎項 🏆
2025 Taipei Film Festival — Nominated for Best Actress
第27屆台北電影獎 — 入圍最佳女主角（江齊）
A runaway box office sensation and currently the highest-grossing Taiwanese film of 2025, LOVESICK is an exuberant yet tender romantic comedy that wears its heart on its sleeve. Director HSU Fu-Hsian (Treat or Trick, 2021) returns with signature slapstick charm, blending adolescent awkwardness, bittersweet nostalgia, and irresistible emotional beats into a vivid coming-of-age portrait.
Zijie, a rebellious teen with a flair for mischief, stumbles upon an unexpected life hack—being mistaken for terminally ill comes with surprising perks. Enjoying the attention and freedom from responsibility, he leans into the lie, embracing a carefree, “lying flat” existence. But his act soon draws the quiet concern of Yezi, a brilliant and enigmatic classmate whose sincerity slowly pierces through his carefully crafted facade.As Zijie’s deception deepens, so does his bond with Yezi—until a heartbreaking twist flips everything: Yezi is the one truly running out of time.
At once laugh-out-loud funny and achingly poignant, LOVESICK is a heartfelt ode to the fleeting passions of youth and the reckless hope it takes to seize the moment—before it slips away.
A Playful Revival of Taiwanese Sensibility – by artist Nancy Lee @nancccstudiooo
This year’s visual identity pays homage to the eclectic visual landscape of Taiwan’s streets—where bold signage, playful puns, and layered languages converge in everyday life. These elements, often untranslatable, carry double meanings and cultural in-jokes that reflect a uniquely Taiwanese sense of humour and identity. Like the Australian vernacular—“fair dinkum,” “chook,” “bloke”—language here becomes more than communication; it becomes character.
Each festival city is reimagined through the lens of Taiwanese urban culture:
Sydney as a colourful juice bar,
Adelaide as a nostalgic ophthalmology clinic,
Melbourne as a quiet stationery and bookshop,
Canberra as a steaming ramen joint,
Brisbane as a bustling Taiwanese breakfast stall serving soymilk and rice rolls, and
Perth as a retro mobile repair shop.
These reinterpretations use localised puns and familiar visual cues to bridge cultural contexts—blurring the line between the foreign and the familiar, the humorous and the heartfelt.
The colour palette, drawn from Taiwanese night markets and streetscapes, weaves warm hues with soft pastel blues—evoking a visual rhythm that is at once nostalgic and contemporary, rooted in tradition yet alive with reinvention.
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