HSIEH PEI-JU: HEAVY CRAVING (2019

Ying-Juan (Tsai Jia-yin) is spunky, smart... and 230 pounds. She cooks at a preschool where the kids call her Ms. Dinosaur. Even her mom, who’s also her boss, constantly fat-shames her. But she just doesn’t give a damn… until an unwanted membership to a weight loss program and an encounter with two misfits prompt her to change and put her on an uphill path to self-acceptance, paved with crash diets and boot camp workouts. Pei-Ju Hsieh’s poignant debut cleverly flirts with screwball comedy conventions while embracing an unorthodox body positivity message, and ultimately delivers an uplifting, sobering moral.



It's closer to a TV movie than a movie for the big screen, but it's a complete mature work. Of course, I can say that it would have been better and more impressive if the director had explored more deeply and criticized this and that, but in retrospect, I am grateful that the film tells the story in such a gentle way, without chicken soup and without preaching, because after all, it is not easy to be "seen" in this kind of story. I'm glad to see the story of an ordinary fat girl, and I look forward to the director's future works and hope that more similar stories will be seen.

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Audience Choice Award, Taipei Film Festival International New Directors Competition