Film review: When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep

Screenwriter-director Hou Chi-jan's bubbly crowd-pleaser of a romantic comedy dramatically begins with Ying (Nikki Hsieh Hsin-ying) suddenly disappearing from the flat she shares with her boyfriend Tung (Kai Ko Chen-tung, the star of You Are the Apple of My Eye), leaving him in a state of shock.

Clenching his girlfriend's parting note that says she's off to "cram school", Tung heads to Nanyang Street - a neighbourhood in Taipei full of such schools - hoping to locate her. Unable to find Ying after days of fruitless searching, Tung settles into a mundane work routine that involves photocopying and delivering examination papers.

Amid the stacks of paper, Tung chances upon cute cartoon drawings of sheep penned by Yang (Chien Man-shu), a teaching assistant and aspiring illustrator who is also waiting to be reunited with a lover. Tung sketches a wolf next to the sheep, triggering a sequence of flirtatious exchanges about love and dreams.

recalls Arvin Chen Chun-lin's in its local flavour and small neighbourhood settings, but it shines brighter in how it uses elements such as dynamic camera movements, quirky framing and shallow depth of field to transform a generally unpleasant locale into an endearing shelter for wounded souls.