Good Neighbors

NEW 2026 RESTORATION BY THE TAIWAN FILM & AUDIOVISUAL INSTITUTE

The jolly Ng family with their Western medicine clinic have new next-door neighbors fresh from mainland China: the Chen family, who happen to run a traditional Chinese medicine practice. Despite some surface skirmishes—linguistic miscommunication, competition for clients—they maintain a friendly co-existence. That is, until their kids fall in love.

Intergenerational and cross-cultural conflict meet screwball comedy in Lee Hsing’s landmark farce—at the time, the rare film in Taiwan that mixed both Taiwanese and Mandarin dialogue. Under the guise of a wordplay comedy and a Romeo and Juliet-type romance, Lee captured the rapidly shifting anxieties of an island undergoing massive cultural changes, and even proposed a utopic resolution of laughter and goodneighborliness. With the success of the independently-produced GOOD NEIGHBORS, Lee, who had until then been a specialist in Taiwanese-language films, would go on to make some of the great classics of Mandarin film in Taiwan, such as Beautiful Duckling and Execution in Autumn (SDAFF ’21). GOOD NEIGHBORS marks a transition in Lee’s career, but also that rare moment of convergence that allowed Lee to explore the intersection of competing cultures while showcasing his skillful populism.

– Brian Hu