Um Romance do Além

Marry My Dead Body is a charming Taiwanese supernatural comedy that impressively does it all for the modern audience, delivering a laugh-out-loud comedy with affecting moments while subtly discussing a social topic.

While investigating an anti-drug case, police officer Wu Ming-han accidentally picks up a red envelope and ends up in a ghost marriage to Mao Mao, a gay man who died in a car accident in the midst of discussing his marriage. Mao Mao's grandmother wants to fulfill her and her grandson's wish to be married.

After a series of misfortune, Ming-han reluctantly accepts the ghost marriage and the spirit of Mao Mao appears. Ming-han helps Mao Mao complete his final wishes and Mao Mao helps with his investigation.

Writer-director Cheng Wei-hao, who made 2021's The Soul, strikes a great balance between the zany comedy, cartoon-like action chase scenes, and teary moments. The three leads, Greg Hsu, Austin Lin, and Gingle Wang are charming and share great chemistry.

Same-sex marriage was legalized in Taiwan in 2019 and notably, the first country in Asia to do so. Marry My Dead Body discusses same-sex marriage as subtly as one could in a major commercial film. Clashing the traditional practice of ghost marriages and same-sex marriage is hilarious.

Comedy has a great way of taking an audience into their fears and anxiety and ridding them through laughter. The message never gets heavy-handed as there's so much going on that the audience laughs through the countless gags.

Some of the gay humor may seem backward for Western audiences, but it's done invitingly and never mean-spirited. It was culturally insightful as the film offers a glimpse into how things are in Taiwan.

The Grandma character particularly struck me. The image of an elderly woman setting up a ghost marriage for her dead grandson, unconcerned with his sexual orientation was quite touching to see. There was a lot of power in that image.

I'm glad Marry My Dead Body has done so well in Taiwan. It's well deserved.

There must be a reason why this movie is so popular in Taiwan. I had high expectations before I entered the theatre and I was not disappointed. I know the reason now.

First, the cast is perfect. Love the cast. They have a great chemistry together. Greg Han Hsu is amazingly great and sexy in this film. Po-Hung Lin and Gingle Wang also did a great job.

Second, the film is entertaining. There are so many laughable scenes. While some are outdated, but still work. The story is perfect for me. The film delves into many issues. It is about gay, posthumous marriage and also FAMILY. I mean the ending wasn't hard to guess, but is touching nonetheless. I cried so hard.

I wish same-sex marriage can be legal everywhere, and everyone can give their love and support to this.

This movie was so good, I genuinely don't know how they pulled off putting so many genres into a singular film. It had a platonic queer aspect, it was comedic, had the science-fiction, and action element.

It was so interesting seeing Ming's character development and the way they told their story was beautifully done, it's one of those movies we can be contempt with, like they didn't need anything else or for it to be turned into a show. I also like that their relationship wasn't sexual like we see this relationship develop between a straight guy and a gay guy that makes them into soulmates that doesn't revolve around a sexual relationship. They'd both die for each other and call each other husbands both comfortable with their sexuality not needing anything else to happen between them. I love that ming-han character matures and he's still dedicated himself to mao's causes and family. We see him start to actively support climate change, queer rights and his form of love for mao isn't something we usually see in bromance cinema.

It's like the two-faced character in 'Two-Faced Man' played by Wang Jing, Although the topic of homosexuality was touched upon, since it's a universal value, personally I feel it didn't take away from the comedy aspect. The director, as usual, introduced contrasting characters in many police-catching-thieves scenes, creating a mix of tension and hilarious moments. Even though it's Xu Guanghan's first time playing a comedic role that sacrifices his image, he successfully portrays the frustration of a dedicated cop dealing with a less competent partner. Actually, there's a bit of Jackie Chan's Police Story vibe in it, but later on, it's all taken over by Wang Jing's brilliance.

Delivering a meaningful message throughout the movie, 'Marry My Dead Body' successfully stood up for the discrimination, the old concept of thoughts that put on Asian LGBTQIA+ Community in general say. The movie has a great plot, combined of such elements: comedy, humanity, family relationship... which blends perfectly to creat an amazing experience. The acting was charming enough to connect with the audience smoothly, great laughs and great cries. The praises are not enough for the whole crew who did the lights, the music, the colors.. There might be some scenes where the visual effects did not work properly but they did not affect the overall experience too much. A worth-watching movie for a weekend night!