Hello! Tapir

There’s a reason why fishing towns, the whole world round, are full of ghost stories and sad songs; a reason why gods and spirits of the sea are often dreaded more deeply than their land-based counterparts. Out at sea, people don’t just die: they go missing, which is an awful thing for a family to have to bear. Young Ah Keat (Bai Run-yin) doesn’t understand it the way the adults do. He’s just angry at his father for not waking him to say goodbye before setting out, and for not coming back on the day when they were supposed to be going on an expedition together. Now he may be forced to go exploring on his own.

Deep in the forest, according to Ah Keat’s father, live mysterious beasts called tapirs, and among them is a giant tapir with a very special role to play. Late at night, when everyone is sleeping, he ventures into the town, wandering around the streets and eating up people’s nightmares. Unable to sleep in his father’s enduring absence, Ah Keat goes wandering himself and has a magical encounter with a baby tapir, which he follows into the forest. It’s the beginning of an adventure which will change his perspective on life and ultimately help him to bring a little magic back into the lives of his loved ones.

Like all the best kids’ adventure films, this one is founded on the understanding that activities which drive adults frantic with worry are just a natural part of life for kids. Whether it’s wandering into the forest alone at night or going out on the sea in a rickety rowing boat to hunt jellyfish, Ah Keat just gets on with it, sometimes getting best friends Bean and Peanut to accompany him. The immediacy of his approach to life – and the wonderfully fluid dialogue which stems from it – fit neatly into a story which is all about making sense of loss and change through an awareness of natural cycles whilst still allowing for the possibility of the unknown and the miraculous. Ah Keat’s grandmother and mother (who has been living elsewhere following a divorce) do what they can to protect the boy and only gradually realise what he can do for them.

A charming film which will appeal to viewers of all ages, Hello! Tapir may be a little too sugary for Western tastes but is salvaged by its young stars’ natural performances and free flowing wit. Kethsvin Chee’s camera careers through the narrow, crowded streets and the busy fish market as they run from place to place, yelling out greetings to neighbours, always busy, always alert. As in traditional tales, the forest and the sea are keepers of secrets, enchanted realms where anything could happen. The tapirs are animated but elsewhere the heavy lifting is done by the cinematography, which lends Taiwan’s wild landscapes an uncanny quality rarely seen in other films from the island nation. Chee presents viewers with a complete and absorbing world in a magical realist fable that reminds us of the value of imagination. It’s a perfect fit for Fantasia 2021.