Real-life blind pianist Huang Yu-siang plays himself in this biopic, Taiwan's entry in the 2012 Academy Award competition for Best Foreign Language Film. Touch of the Light follows Huang's journey from a rural village to a Taipei university, where he enrolls to study music. Despite the fretting of his overprotective mother, Huang settles into the new environment, gaining the friendship of a wacky roommate and the love of aspiring dancer Xiao Jie (Sandrine Pinna). Their romance and respective creative goals inevitably drive the story to a piano recital climax for Huang, while also charting Jie's efforts to achieve her dance dreams. While Huang gives a credible performance and Pinna offers a star quality turn, the film feels formulaic despite being fact-based, and the love story is ridiculously chaste for a current feature film. Optional. (P. Hall)
Touch of the Light
Well Go, 110 min., in Mandarin w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.98, Nov. 25 Volume 30, Issue 1
Touch of the Light
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