As another reviewer stated, I honestly don't know what the original reviewer was watching as it is totally not even close. But from that original reviewers only reviews all bad relating only to the sameTaiwanese director, I suspect there is some backstory to the hate vented.
That said, because of the reviews I started watching this movie not knowing what to expect, but as the movie proceeded I genuinely got totally wrapped into it.
The movie is a story told from a grandfather to his granddaughter on how the grandparents met and fell in love, and along the way teaching her a chunk of history of the Taiwanese movie scene. As the story unfolds we find that the grandmother is suffering from dementia and in a way is trapped back in that time, having now forgotten her husband and daughter.
But it's through the grandfather's recalling of that magical time period to his granddaughter is where he might have unlocked the way to reconnecting with his wife.
There are a few schmaltzy moments here and there, but in general many of the scenes played out well, and as I always sort of remember back to the 60s and 70s everything seemed simpler and even magical back then.
