On Happiness Road

What is happiness? And what is home? Have I achieved what I wanted to achieve in life? Chi, the protagonist in “On Happiness Road”, asks herself these questions when she returns to the places of her childhood in Taiwan after her grandmother’s death. She lived in the USA for many years, established her life there, married and no longer had any real connection to her former homeland. But she hasn’t felt content with herself and her surroundings for a long time, so returning to her roots comes at just the right moment. After arriving in her childhood street, Chi begins to grapple with her past. Everything has changed and yet everything seems to be the same as before: her parents still live in the same place, whereas by now her schoolmates either hold or at the very least have run for political offices.
Sung Hsin-yin wrote the script for her directorial debut, which is partially based on her personal experiences, which lends the film and its characters a lot of individuality. Chi’s life story is, however, also closely linked with Taiwan’s history, especially its relationship with China. To some extent, the film succeeds in reappraising the country’s past events, even if it consistently remains on a personal level with Chi’s story. An unconventional screen adaptation – mostly drawn by hand and produced in Taiwan – in which the audience is certainly able to see itself reflected, for presumably at one point in time, everyone has already asked themselves the questions raised at the start. (ch)