PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE AUSTRALIAN CENTRE ON CHINA IN THE WORLD

I was tickled when I discovered what this movie was named after: a genuine, real-life whale. No one has knowingly seen it, nor even knows what species it belongs to, but it’s a genetic freak that broadcasts its call at 52 Hertz, higher than any other whale (although in its older age it’s now lowered its call to 49 Hertz). Oceanographers know it exists and know there’s only one of it; no other whale is tuned in to its cries, and it’s been called ‘the loneliest whale in the world’.

This is the fate of lonely people in Taipei, looking for love and sending out all the right signals on all the wrong channels. This is their story. But it’s not, and is not meant to be, a sad film: set on Valentine’s Day, we watch various couples and individuals who will (in many cases) meet up in various ways that evening. And it’s also a whimsical, brightly-coloured musical – La La Land in vignette format, but set in a city which already has more romance than Los Angeles, so the movie doesn’t have to work so hard to provide it.