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Audio Format: DD 5.1, DTS
Video Format: Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic)
Languages: Mandarin
Subtitles: English, Chinese, Japanese
Region Code: 3
Year Made: 2008
Running Time: 96
Release Date: 10/14/2008
A Taiwanese TV star's attempts to fund his own mockumentary compounds his existing financial and personal difficulties in "What on Earth Have I Done Wrong?!", a low-budget film that purports to be about its own making. Pic periodically provides gut-busting laughs before straying into serious melodramatic territory, but it never completely congeals into an organic whole. Slim commercial prospects are confined to open-minded Chinese-language territories. Digital and Asian themed fests may want to take a look, but pic would benefit from a 15-minute trim for non-Chinese auds.
Real-life thesp, occasional Hou Hsiao Hsien alumni ("The Boys From Feng Kuei," "Millennium Mambo") and Taiwan tube helmer Niu Chen-zer urgently wants to direct a smash hit debut feature film. Using his high profile and enthusiasm, Niu quickly assembles a small pre-production crew for a low-budget mockumentary satirizing local politicians.
His savvy producer manages to secure start-up funds from the government, and asks for time to secure completion money before rushing into production. Too impetuous by half, Niu uses some of the government money to gamble for bigger gains on the stock market and blows the rest on booze, drugs and hookers while romancing gangsters as potential executive producers.
As life spirals out of control, Niu tries to keep his relationship on track by attending weekly therapy sessions with his cold fish g.f., Ning Ning (Chang Chun-ning). Unfortunately the protag's personal problems only compound his troubled film production and vice versa.
Niu is energetic and amusingly diverting on screen. Mockumentary illusion is kept alive by a deadpan supporting cast. Script manages to provide abundant funny moments and daringly, if less convincingly, navigates the transition into a melodrama about Niu's own dysfunctional behavior.
In a masterstroke, pic climaxes with a moment that magically combines humor with the yarn's dramatic elements. Accurate or not, Niu creates a savage self-portrait.
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