Film Forum

Taiwan, 1981
Directed by Wang Tung
Written by Chang Yung-hsiang
Based on the Sha Yexin, Li Schoucheng, Yao Mingde play
Starring Alan Tam, Nancy Hu, Hsiang Lin
Approx. 99 min. 16mm Courtesy Harvard Film Archive.

Although lesser known today than his contemporaries, Wang Tung was an important protagonist of the New Taiwanese Cinema whose wry brand of comedy brought a sharp, often satiric, political edge to the movement. Tung’s debut feature IF I WERE FOR REAL immediately revealed his astute comic flair and his career-long commitment to examining the complexities of modern Chinese and Taiwanese history through the lens of off-beat “unofficial” stories. Set against the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution, IF I WERE FOR REAL is based on a true story of mistaken identity, now recast as the unlikely misadventures of a naïve young man (Alan Tam) from the country who suddenly finds himself willingly impersonating the son of high-ranking Party official, despite the increasingly dangerous stakes of his game. Winner of multiple Golden Horse awards, including for Best Film, IF I WERE FOR REAL marked the propitious launch of Mainland Chinese- born Tung as a courageous firebrand of Eighties Taiwanese cinema.