Taiwanese Drama Explores the Long-Term Impact of a Traffic Collision

A high-speed traffic accident leaves a 22-year-old college student permanently in a wheelchair, setting off a deeply personal family drama that spans over a decade. Writer-director Lee Yun Chan returns with her first feature film in sixteen years, titled 'To Be Ordinary', following her previous work on the 2010 project 'Dancing Without You' and television work including the 2022 Disney+ series 'Women in Taipei'.

What Happened

The story begins in suburban Taipei as Yu-jie, played by Junior Hsieh, rides his moped through rain-slicked streets at night before a car strikes him at an intersection. The vehicle is driven by an elderly and wealthy man named Mr Ma, played by Hsiu Shen Liang, who is consumed by deep guilt over the crash. Although Yu-jie survives the collision, he discovers in the hospital that he will never walk again. Despite running his own web design business at college, he accepts this new reality with great composure and soon starts a romance with his hospital physiotherapist, Yi-Han, played by Phoebe Chu.

Family Struggles

The rest of Yu-jie's household finds it much harder to cope with the sudden tragedy. His parents, played by Chang Shih Ying and Weber Yang, were already experiencing severe marital problems, and the ongoing unemployment of the father pushes them even further apart. Meanwhile, Yu-jie's younger sister, Yu-ching, played by Pin Hsuan Chen, deals with the emotional turmoil of early adolescence while feeling ignored as her parents focus heavily on her brother's medical care. To help ease the burden, Mr Ma provides the legal settlement, hands over the deed to his entire house, and continues to pay for ongoing medical and living costs.

Festival Run

The film recently premiered as the sole Taiwanese production in the main competition at the Busan International Film Festival and is scheduled to screen at the Tokyo Film Festival later in the month. It will then receive a theatrical release in Taiwan during mid-November, with potential for further international festival screenings and specialist streaming distribution.

Context

Family dramas often use sudden medical crises or accidents to examine how long-standing economic and emotional pressures affect different household members over time. Independent cinema frequently highlights these slow-burn character studies to explore everyday human resilience without relying on standard narrative clichés.