‘To Be Ordinary’ review: Nuanced Taiwanese family drama explores the impact of life-changing injury

Dir: Lee Yun Chan. Taiwan. 2026. 112mins

A young man’s life-changing injuries have a profound impact on all of his immediate family in To Be Ordinary. The story may possess all the hallmarks of an unabashed tearjerker, but Taiwanese director Lee Yun Chan’s restrained approach creates a more nuanced exploration of family dynamics, quiet fortitude and loss. There are attractive echoes of Hirokazu Koreeda’s humanist work in a film that should travel to further festivals following a world premiere in Busan competition. 

 Effectively navigates a potential minefield of sentimentality 

Lee Yun Chan’s debut feature The Shoe Fairy (2005) screened at Busan, as did her 2004 short The Magical Washing Machine. To Be Ordinary marks a return to feature-films for the director following television projects like Palace of Serendipity (2020) and Women In Taipei (2022), and begins in understated fashion as college student and web designer Yu-Jie (Junior Hsieh) takes to the rain-slicked nighttime roads on his scooter. Shortly thereafter, he is struck by a car; in hospital he is told that he will never walk again. The stage is set for what we assume will be an emotional journey through anger, despair and the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Instead, Lee Yun Chan and co-writer Ginger Wang place their focus on the way in which his family deal with the tragedy, and how it changes all of them. 

Yu-Jie’s father (Weber Yang) has been unemployed for a number of years and seems to shrink into the background of any scene, assuming a secondary position to his formidable wife (Chang Shih Ying). She is pragmatic and practical, forcing herself to take charge, stay busy and keep her emotions under check. Younger sister Yu-Qing (Chen Pin Hsuan) is an adolescent schoolgirl faced with the possibility that she will never again be her parents’ first priority.

Despite the high emotions at play, eveything is kep low-key. A delicate score by Cicada utilises gentle guitar chords, violin and viola to underline the fragile tone. Events unfold in modest apartments and grey hospital wards. Each member of the family seems a separate, self-contained unit –conversations are overheard, characters are pushed to the edge of the frame. Family life is upended by the car crash, but also by the decision of the guilty party Mr Ma ( Hsiu Shen Liang) to pay a generous compensation settlement and provide a rent-free apartment. The focus on Yu-Jie’s future obliges them to live and act increasinglu like a family unit as they eat together and share common concerns. 

The 22 year-old Yu-Jie’s transition from angry young man to chipper, well-adjusted wheelchair-user seems to happen with remarkable ease and swiftness, stretching credibility. The film strives to find positivity in the situation as Yu-Jie begins a flirtatious friendship with physiotherapist Yi-Han  (Phoebe Chu), his dad finds renewed purpose in life and Yu-QIng attends to her studies. The prevailing mood is one of hope, but Lee Yun Chan also includes some mild commentary on Taiwanese attitudes to disability; Yu-Jie’s wheelchair seems to cause either discomfort or embarrassment for random strangers.

Lee Yun Chan seems determined to prove that life rarely provides happy endings that last, and the family is tested again as they face further traged and long suppressed emotions finally come to the surface. Years go by and the sprawling narrative constantly emphasises that happiness is fleeting, life is random and always bittersweet. The filmmaker’s dignified approach and her use of an effective ensemble cast ensures that the film effectively navigates a potential minefield of sentimentality and emerge as an emotional, engaging family drama.