'To Be Ordinary' Marks Lee Yun Chan's Return at Busan — SkimNews
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- Lee Yun Chan returned to feature filmmaking with "To Be Ordinary," her first feature since 2005's "The Shoe Fairy" and her first since directing the Disney+ series "Women in Taipei."
- "To Be Ordinary" is the only Taiwanese film in competition at the Busan International Film Festival, with the Mandarin title literally translating as "a useful person."
- The film follows Yu Jie, a college student and web designer whose motorcycle is hit by a car; the elderly driver signs his house over to Yu Jie and covers his medical and living costs, sparking a fragile family reconnection.
- Cast members Weber Yang, Chang Shih Ying, and Junior Hsieh are making their Busan debuts; the family actors grocery-shopped, cooked, and hiked with a wheelchair together during pre-production to build the on-screen bond.
- The film was shot over 42 days after Lee spent roughly a decade developing the story while raising her family, grounding scenes in Taipei details like garbage-truck melodies.
- "To Be Ordinary" screens at Tokyo International Film Festival and Golden Horse Film Festival after Busan, then opens theatrically in Taiwan on Nov. 13, with Mandarin Vision handling world sales.
- Producer Inch Lin and Mandarin Vision's Desmond Yang said the film targets non-mainstream audiences but can find viewers through its universal theme of repairing family relationships.
Why it matters: For Taiwan's festival circuit, Lee Yun Chan's two-decade return — and "To Be Ordinary" being the sole Taiwanese title in Busan competition — means the territory's footprint at one of Asia's biggest festivals rests on a single, intimate family drama rather than a louder commercial entry. With theatrical release in Taiwan locked after Tokyo and Golden Horse screenings, the film becomes a quiet anchor of the autumn festival-to-domestic pipeline.
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