Heartbreak Island

Heartbreak Island
Heartbreak Island
	film poster
Chinese	去年冬天
Literal meaning	Last Year's Winter
Hanyu Pinyin	Qùnián Dōngtiān
Directed by	Hsu Hsiao-ming
Written by	Kuo Cheng; John S.C. Chiang;
Produced by	Grant Chang; Tommy Wang;
Starring	Vicky Wei; King Jieh-wen;
Cinematography	Yang Wei-han
Edited by	Chen Bo-wen
Music by	Chyi Chin & Red Band
Production; company	Scholar Films
Release date	1995
Running time	118 minutes
Country	Taiwan
Languages	Mandarin, Hokkien

Heartbreak Island is a 1995 Taiwanese drama film directed by Hsu Hsiao-ming. The film follows a recently released woman prisoner as she visits her ex who was arrested in the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident but released before her. The film makes extensive use of flashbacks to illustrate the woman's thoughts.

Writing for The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote: "The mood of Heartbreak Island is so glumly monochromatic that the characters remain at a chilly distance, and the movie remains locked in its own sealed-off sense of despair."^[1]

Cast edit

Vicky Wei as Chen Linlang
- Chen Yishan as Chen Linlang (child)
King Jieh-wen as Wang Rong, former dissident, Chen Linlang's former teacher and lover
Chang Ching-ju as An-an, Wang Rong's wife
Wen Ying as Wang Rong's mother
Chang Chiao-ling as Chiao-ling, An-an's younger sister
Tsai Chen-nan as Jin Guang, former dissident who wants to run for president
Lin Ju as former dissident running a night market business
Meng Ting-li as Chen Linlang's ex-classmate and friend
Tien Meng as Chen Linlang's neighbor in the military dependents' village
Lo Bin as Wang Rong's father (flashback)
Wang Hsin-ju as Chen Linlang's mother (flashback)
Chyi Chin as pub singer