{ "id": "eparckyy5k", "slug": "plurality-2021-film", "title": "Plurality (2021 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-of-the-6", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films of the 2020s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-of-the-6" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-of-the-6.science-fiction-films-of-the-2020s", "label": "Science fiction films of the 2020s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-of-the-6.science-fiction-films-of-the-2020s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-of-the-6.science-fiction-films-of-the-2020s.alpha-m-to-x", "label": "Titles M to X", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-of-the-6.science-fiction-films-of-the-2020s.alpha-m-to-x" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "China · 2021 and later: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021", "label": "China · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Plurality (複身犯) is a 2021 Taiwanese sci-fi crime thriller directed by Aozaru Shiao, starring Tony Yang, Sandrine Pinna, and Frederick Lee; five bus-crash victims' consciousnesses are uploaded into a death-row prisoner to solve child kidnappings.", "snippet": "Plurality (複身犯) is a 2021 Taiwanese sci-fi crime thriller directed by Aozaru Shiao, starring Tony Yang, Sandrine Pinna, and Frederick Lee; five bus-crash victims' consciousnesses are uploaded into a death-row prisoner to solve child kidnappings.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-of-the-6.science-fiction-films-of-the-2020s.alpha-m-to-x", "markdown": "# Plurality (2021 film)\n\n**Plurality** (复身犯) is a 2021 Taiwanese science-fiction crime thriller directed by Aozaru Shiao (萧力修), in which the consciousnesses of five people killed in a bus explosion are uploaded into the body of a death-row prisoner so the police can interrogate them about a string of child kidnappings.[1](https://fareastfilms.com/fef-news/trailer-plurality/) • [2](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3152) It opened in Taiwan and China on February 26, 2021.[1](https://fareastfilms.com/fef-news/trailer-plurality/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | 复身犯 (Plurality) |\n| Country and year | Taiwan, 2021[2](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3152) |\n| Director | Aozaru Shiao (萧力修)[1](https://fareastfilms.com/fef-news/trailer-plurality/) |\n| Cast | Tony Yang (杨祐宁), Sandrine Pinna (张榕容), Frederick Lee (李铭忠), Chen Yi-Wen (陈以文), Gingle Wang (王净), Lin Che-Hsi (林哲熹)[1](https://fareastfilms.com/fef-news/trailer-plurality/) • [3](https://kfa.kcg.gov.tw/tw/kaohsiung-people-content/ea2d48E2d3F2) |\n| Release | February 26, 2021, in Taiwan and China[1](https://fareastfilms.com/fef-news/trailer-plurality/) |\n| Running time | 107 minutes per the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival archive; 106 minutes per the Kaohsiung Film Archive and Taipei Times[2](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3152) • [3](https://kfa.kcg.gov.tw/tw/kaohsiung-people-content/ea2d48E2d3F2) • [4](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2021/03/04/2003753205) |\n| Languages | Mandarin and Taiwanese, with Chinese and English subtitles[4](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2021/03/04/2003753205) |\n| Nominations | Golden Horse Award for Best Visual Effects (2021); Taipei Film Awards for Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects (2021)[3](https://kfa.kcg.gov.tw/tw/kaohsiung-people-content/ea2d48E2d3F2) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set in the near future. A bus crashes and explodes on a wilderness road, killing all five people aboard, and the crash turns out to be connected to a series of kidnappings of children, including the young son of a city councillor.[5](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/063b90a3deb8473f2181bbab820f9499) • [6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/12/plurality-review-simple-minded-multiple-identity-thriller) To find the abducted children, the police work with a research center to use an experimental consciousness-uploading technology: the personalities of the five dead passengers, all suspects in the kidnapping case, are transferred into the brain of a brain-dead, vegetative death-row prisoner designated 193, played by Tony Yang, who is revived as the host.[2](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3152) • [5](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/063b90a3deb8473f2181bbab820f9499)\n\nDetective Wang (Frederick Lee) and Dr Shen (Sandrine Pinna) interrogate the five personalities, who include a bus driver, a truant schoolgirl, and a businessman, and whose accounts of the truth conflict.[5](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/063b90a3deb8473f2181bbab820f9499) • [1](https://fareastfilms.com/fef-news/trailer-plurality/) The five identities fight for control of the host body while the investigation proceeds, and the interrogation grows more violent as the police press for information.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/12/plurality-review-simple-minded-multiple-identity-thriller) Dr Shen has a personal stake in the case: her own child is among the abducted.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/12/plurality-review-simple-minded-multiple-identity-thriller)\n\n## Production and release\n\nAozaru Shiao directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Lin Ping-yu and Hung Tzu-yung.[5](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/063b90a3deb8473f2181bbab820f9499) He had previously co-directed the features *Forever Love* (2013) and *Dream Flight* (2014) and the television series *Wake Up* (2015), which won Golden Bell Awards for miniseries and directing.[2](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3152) In interviews he described the film as light rather than hard science fiction, set in a fictional near-future Taiwan five to ten years ahead of the present, with retro elements such as the interrogation chair balancing the futuristic design.[7](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9844)\n\nMuch of the film was shot in Taichung, with locations including Taichung Central Park and the Gaomei Wetlands, and a car chase sequence filmed with support from the Taichung City Government's Information Bureau and the Taichung Film Development Foundation. The Taichung premiere was held on February 25, 2021, at Shin Kong Cinemas, one day before the island-wide release.[8](https://filmtaichung.org.tw/en/newsContent/249) The film was later released on digital platforms in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2021.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/12/plurality-review-simple-minded-multiple-identity-thriller)\n\n## Reception\n\n**Critical response was mixed to negative.** The *South China Morning Post* gave the film one star out of five; its reviewer, James Marsh, wrote that the premise was baffling and that the film lacked logic or coherence, while crediting Tony Yang with committing fully to the role and switching among the bus driver, an aging businessman, a young seductress, and an introverted teenager with agility.[9](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3126894/plurality-movie-review-taiwanese-psychological-thriller) Phuong Le in *The Guardian* called it a gruesome but simple-minded thriller that starts promisingly and then trades complexity for action and chase sequences, judging the depiction of the host's mindscape poorly conceived.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/12/plurality-review-simple-minded-multiple-identity-thriller)\n\nThe *Taipei Times* was more favorable. Reviewer Han Cheung praised Tony Yang for convincingly portraying the distinct personas and carrying the film despite a flawed script, and concluded that *Plurality* was a positive step for Taiwan's rapidly evolving film scene.[4](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2021/03/04/2003753205) The Taichung premiere screenings drew positive reviews for the car chase scene, according to the city's film assistance office.[8](https://filmtaichung.org.tw/en/newsContent/249)\n\n## Awards\n\nThe film was nominated for the Golden Horse Award for Best Visual Effects at the 2021 Golden Horse Film Festival, and for three 2021 Taipei Film Awards: Best Actor for Tony Yang, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects.[3](https://kfa.kcg.gov.tw/tw/kaohsiung-people-content/ea2d48E2d3F2) • [10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14332502/awards/)\n\n## Comparisons and context\n\nSeveral reviewers compared the multiple-identities-in-one-body premise to [M. Night Shyamalan](https://www.edgepedia.org/m-night-shyamalan)'s 2016 film *Split*, a comparison the *Taipei Times* noted was part of the film's promotion and that *The Guardian* and the *Set The Tape* review treated as superficial.[4](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2021/03/04/2003753205) • [6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/12/plurality-review-simple-minded-multiple-identity-thriller) • [11](https://setthetape.com/2021/07/13/plurality-film-review/) Unlike *Split*, the film grounds its multiple personalities in science fiction rather than dissociative identity disorder: the host carries uploaded consciousnesses, not psychiatric alters.[11](https://setthetape.com/2021/07/13/plurality-film-review/) Reviewers also pointed to *The Cell* (2000) and *The Matrix* trilogy as earlier treatments of journeys through minds and simulated realities.[9](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3126894/plurality-movie-review-taiwanese-psychological-thriller) • [6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/12/plurality-review-simple-minded-multiple-identity-thriller)\n\nWithin Taiwanese cinema, the film was received as an entry in the domestic science-fiction genre. The director's own framing, in an interview with Taiwan Film Institute's *Funscreen Weekly*, placed it as local light science fiction concerned with observations of Taiwanese society rather than technological speculation.[7](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9844)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Trailer: 'Plurality', Far East Films (Phil Mills, February 5, 2021)](https://fareastfilms.com/fef-news/trailer-plurality/)\n2. [複身犯 Plurality, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival archive](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3152)\n3. [複身犯｜PLURALITY, Kaohsiung Film Archive](https://kfa.kcg.gov.tw/tw/kaohsiung-people-content/ea2d48E2d3F2)\n4. [Movie review: 'Plurality', Taipei Times (Han Cheung, March 4, 2021)](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2021/03/04/2003753205)\n5. [電影｜複身犯, 台灣影視聽數位博物館 (Taiwan Digital Film Museum)](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/063b90a3deb8473f2181bbab820f9499)\n6. [Plurality review – gruesome but simple-minded multiple-identity thriller, The Guardian (Phuong Le, July 12, 2021)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/12/plurality-review-simple-minded-multiple-identity-thriller)\n7. [本土輕科幻的可能性：《複身犯》導演蕭力修專訪, 放映週報 Funscreen Weekly (翁煌德, February 19, 2021)](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9844)\n8. [Film \"Plurality\" Premiered in Taichung, Car Chase Scene Received Glowing Reviews, Taichung Film Assistance Website (February 26, 2021)](https://filmtaichung.org.tw/en/newsContent/249)\n9. [Plurality movie review: Taiwanese psychological thriller is ludicrous and relentlessly confounding, South China Morning Post (James Marsh, March 25, 2021)](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3126894/plurality-movie-review-taiwanese-psychological-thriller)\n10. [Plurality (2021) – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14332502/awards/)\n11. [Plurality – Film Review, Set The Tape (Amy Walker, July 13, 2021)](https://setthetape.com/2021/07/13/plurality-film-review/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films of the 2020s › Science fiction films of the 2020s › Titles M to X*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/plurality-2021-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/plurality-2021-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Plurality (2021 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/plurality-2021-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Plurality (2021 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/plurality-2021-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/plurality-2021-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/plurality-2021-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Plurality (2021 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/plurality-2021-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Plurality is a 2021 Taiwanese sci-fi crime thriller directed by Aozaru Shiao, starring Tony Yang, Sandrine Pinna, and Frederick Lee; five bus-crash victims' consciousnesses are uploaded into a death-row prisoner to solve child kidnappings." }