No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti by Leon Dai

Based on a true story and powered by a gripping and very natural realism, No puedo vivir sin ti (Spanish for ‘I can’t live without you’) tells the story of Li Wu-hsiung, a middle-aged man in Taiwan who makes a meagre living by doing odd-jobs for little money (and sometimes even putting his own life at risk). He has a young girl whose mother went away years ago, leaving father and daughter alone – and very much together. However Li is not her legal guardian, a situation which becomes a problem when he tries to enrol her in school so that she can have a better future.

Out of the deeply loving relationship between them, the film unveils a sort of Kafkian and (sometimes too) melodramatic tale of a man’s desperate attempt to keep his beloved girl by his side, when a quite bluntly depicted bureaucracy threatens to take her away. Director Leon Dai (also a famous actor in his country) manages to deliver a well-crafted and humble film, which - apart from an excessively touching piano score and an often evident intention to move its audience - keeps afloat thanks to capable/excellent(?) performances (especially from lead actor Chen Wen-pin), and a thorough and precise mise en scène.

Agustín Mango