European Premiere | In Competition
Taiwan, 2024, 109’, Mandarin, English
Directed by: Chuang Ching-shen
Screenplay: Hsu Hui-fang, Wang Li-wen
Cinematography (color): Chen Chi-wen
Editing: Chin Chung-hwa
Production Design: Y.C. Kuo
Music: SiNg Wu
Producers: David Tang, Shen Yang, Eric Liang, Tom Tong, Yang Hung-chin, Patrick Li
Cast: Buffy Chen (Ai), Chloe Xiang (Min), Chi Chin (Ai’s mother), Bruce Chiu (Luke), Huang Chih-ling (Yue), Charles Tu (Chao)
Date of First Release in Territory: February 27th, 2025
Education is one of the fields where the divide between the haves and the have-nots become especially glaring. Rich parents can make up for a bad exam score by paying for tutoring or making enormous donations to get their children into a better school, while those without the means (especially in Asia) are forced to stake their entire academic future on a single do-or-die standardised exam.
As the opening of The Uniform explains, many Taiwanese students in the 1990s fought tooth and nail to get into elite high schools in order to secure admission into top universities. As a result, students who couldn’t get accepted into top schools like Taipei First Girls High School enrolled in the schools’ night classes in hopes that the pedigree will at least help them get further.
This sets the scene for Chuang Ching-shen’s immensely likable coming-of-age female friendship drama. Buffy Chen, the breakout star from The Silent Forest (2020), stars as Ai, a student who is forced by her mother (Chi Chin) to enrol in Taipei First Girls High School’s night classes after failing to get accepted. While other night students are shunned by snobby day students who consider them to be inferior, Ai strikes a friendship with Min (Chloe Xiang), the day student with whom Ai shares a desk.
The friendship seems innocuous at first, with Ai and Min exchanging letters and going out on girl dates. However, things get complicated when Min starts lending her day student uniform to Ai so that the latter can skip school without being questioned. When the trick seems to work for her, Ai uses the uniform to pass herself off as a day student to get close to Luke, a boy from another prestigious private school. The trouble is, Min also happens to like him.
Inspired by real uniform-swapping anecdotes heard by co-writer Hsu Hui-fang, the film uses the uniform as a symbol of privilege. By putting on the uniform, Ai gets the confidence that she lacked as a night student and feels worthy of her crush’s attention. Even though the standardised exam and the night school programme mentioned in the film no longer exist in Taiwan, the continuing existence of economic disparity in the education system makes the film’s themes still relevant today.
Nevertheless, those who are looking for something other than a commentary on the educational apparatus will still be charmed by the friendship at the centre of The Uniform, largely thanks to its two stars. Two of the brightest young actresses of their generation, Buffy Chen and Chloe Xiang share excellent screen chemistry as best friends from opposite sides of the economic divide. Also worthy of attention is Chi Chin’s affecting performance as Ai’s mother, a woman who is simply trying her best to stay afloat as a single mother while a moody teenage daughter goes against her at every turn. Thanks to Chi’s vulnerable and resilient performance, Ai and her mother’s volatile relationship is just as emotionally captivating as Ai and Min’s friendship.
GUEST:
CHUANG Ching-shen, director
WANG Li-Wen, scriptwriter
Buffy CHEN Yan-fei, actress
David TANG, producer
Chuang Ching-shen
Chuang Ching-shen has worked as an assistant director on
7 Days in Heaven (2010), as well as the producer and cinematographer on documentary
Jump! Boys (2005). After several television films for public broadcaster PTS, he made his feature directorial debut with
High Flash (2018).
The Uniform (2024) is his fourth feature film.
FILMOGRAPHY
2018 – High Flash
2019 – The Magnificent Bobita
2022 – S-Girl
2024 – The Uniform