# Till We Meet Again
**Till We Meet Again** (月老) is a 2021 Taiwanese fantasy romance film directed and written by [Giddens Ko](https://www.edgepedia.org/giddens-ko) (九把刀), adapted from his novel of the same name. It stars Kai Ko (柯震東), [Vivian Sung](https://www.edgepedia.org/vivian-sung) (宋芸樺), Gingle Wang (王淨), and Umin Boya (馬志翔), and follows a young man who dies in a lightning strike, loses his memories, and trains in the underworld as a trainee "yue lao", the matchmaker god who ties lovers together with red strings.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3135) • [2](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/715091/%E6%9C%88%E8%80%81-%E5%B0%88%E8%A8%AA-%E4%B9%9D%E6%8A%8A%E5%88%80%E8%87%AA%E8%A8%80%E4%B8%80%E7%9B%B4%E7%9D%87%E5%AF%A6%E6%9F%AF%E9%9C%87%E6%9D%B1-%E9%81%AD%E5%8F%8D%E6%93%8A-%E6%98%AF%E4%BB%96%E5%BE%88%E9%9C%80%E8%A6%81%E6%88%91)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Giddens Ko (九把刀, real name Ko Ching-teng 柯景騰); his third feature film[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3135) |
| Source | Adaptation of Ko's novel *Yue-lao* (月老), an early love story, published in 2002 or 2007 according to different sources[3](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9151) |
| Cast | Kai Ko as Ah Lun, Gingle Wang as Pinky, Vivian Sung as Xiao Mi, Umin Boya as Ghost Head Cheng[2](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/715091/%E6%9C%88%E8%80%81-%E5%B0%88%E8%A8%AA-%E4%B9%9D%E6%8A%8A%E5%88%80%E8%87%AA%E8%A8%80%E4%B8%80%E7%9B%B4%E7%9D%87%E5%AF%A6%E6%9F%AF%E9%9C%87%E6%9D%B1-%E9%81%AD%E5%8F%8D%E6%93%8A-%E6%98%AF%E4%BB%96%E5%BE%88%E9%9C%80%E8%A6%81%E6%88%91) • [4](https://www.twreporter.org/a/2021-taipei-golden-horse-film-festival-till-we-meet-again) |
| Taiwan release | November 24, 2021[5](https://27th.bifan.kr/download/Made_in_Asia_2022.pdf) |
| Golden Horse Awards | 3 wins (Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup & Costume Design, Best Sound Effects) from 11 nominations, including Best Feature Film[6](https://www.taiwanfilmfestival.org.au/2022/till-we-meet-again) |
| Taiwan box office | NT$235,315,573 in 2021, the second-highest-grossing Taiwanese film of the year[7](https://stat.moc.gov.tw/eBook_List_DoL.aspx?id=111_all&year=2022) |
| Visual effects | More than 800 VFX shots, 100% made in Taiwan by over 140 artists over two years[8](https://www.wwwindstudio.com/tillwemeetagain) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Ah Lun (石孝綸), played by Kai Ko, is playing basketball when a sudden storm forces him to shelter under a tree, and he is killed by a lightning strike.[9](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/6b46dbadf6feb411ac59432f6cf57356) In the underworld, every deceased person is scanned for memories of their past life and receives a string of prayer beads in which white beads count this life's good deeds and black beads count karmic obstacles; the number of beads determines whether the soul is reborn as a human or another animal. Because Ah Lun died by lightning, his memories are lost, so his virtue and karma cannot be read.[9](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/6b46dbadf6feb411ac59432f6cf57356)
There he meets Pinky, a girl who died wrongfully and refuses to accept her own death, and the two become partners as trainee yue lao, performing matchmaking missions among the living to earn their way to reincarnation.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3135) • [10](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3160399/till-we-meet-again-movie-review-taiwanese-fantasy-romance?module=inline&pgtype=article) On a mission in the world of the living, Ah Lun encounters Xiao Mi, the woman he loved, who is still grieving his death, and gradually recovers his memories of a vow he made to her in life.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3135) Meanwhile, a fierce ghost called Ghost Head Cheng (鬼頭成), played by Umin Boya and exiled for five hundred years, returns to the human world for revenge, and his appearance brings Xiao Mi into mortal danger.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3135) • [4](https://www.twreporter.org/a/2021-taipei-golden-horse-film-festival-till-we-meet-again) The recurring line "some things will not change even after ten thousand years" carries the film's theme of love that cannot be controlled.[4](https://www.twreporter.org/a/2021-taipei-golden-horse-film-festival-till-we-meet-again)
## Production
**Origin and financing.** The film was produced by Taiwan's Machi Xiaojia Movie Company (麻吉砥加電影), founded by Jeff Huang (黃立成), who served as executive producer; because the cast and creative team were strong, nine companies from Taiwan and South Korea ultimately co-produced the film.[11](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/story/20211126insight003) The project was initiated by Lu Wei-chun (盧維君), the company's CEO, who proposed adapting the novel while working at 20th Century Fox; Ko said he usually avoided recommending *Yue-lao* for adaptation because its large production scale and ghost-and-god subject matter would keep it out of mainland China, risking investors' money, but Huang approved it after assessing the risk.[11](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/story/20211126insight003) Korean investment included Hive Filmworks, a connection attributed in part to the popularity of Ko's previous thriller *Mon Mon Mon Monsters* at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.[3](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9151)
**Adaptation.** Ko spent more than half a year adapting the novel and wrote more than 12 drafts before finalizing the screenplay, which he called his best work; it was nominated for the Golden Horse Award for Best Adapted Screenplay but did not win.[12](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/story/20211126insight004) He said his motive for adapting the story came from the Korean film *Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds* (2017), whose treatment of life, death, and karma drew his attention to his own novel about the same subjects.[3](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9151) He preserved two elements from the novel for loyal readers: the protagonist's cause of death and a scene involving tying a red string to an exhaust pipe.[12](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/story/20211126insight004) In interviews he also connected the project to personal loss: his dog Ah Lu, who had accompanied him for 14 years, died while he was writing the script, and wanting to make a film for the dog became the turning point that made him decide to direct.[4](https://www.twreporter.org/a/2021-taipei-golden-horse-film-festival-till-we-meet-again)
**Filming and effects.** The film was shot in Keelung at the end of 2019.[3](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9151) The visual effects, created by WWWIND Studio, took two years and used 3D scanning to build 1:1 digital doubles for the fight scenes; most shots combined live-action footage with post-production work. More than 800 visual effects shots were completed by over 140 artists, entirely in Taiwan.[8](https://www.wwwindstudio.com/tillwemeetagain) The key fantasy element is the red string, designed to visualize communication between two people.[8](https://www.wwwindstudio.com/tillwemeetagain)
## Release and reception
The film was released in Taiwan on November 24, 2021.[5](https://27th.bifan.kr/download/Made_in_Asia_2022.pdf) It opened in Hong Kong on December 23, 2021.[2](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/715091/%E6%9C%88%E8%80%81-%E5%B0%88%E8%A8%AA-%E4%B9%9D%E6%8A%8A%E5%88%80%E8%87%AA%E8%A8%80%E4%B8%80%E7%9B%B4%E7%9D%87%E5%AF%A6%E6%9F%AF%E9%9C%87%E6%9D%B1-%E9%81%AD%E5%8F%8D%E6%93%8A-%E6%98%AF%E4%BB%96%E5%BE%88%E9%9C%80%E8%A6%81%E6%88%91) It was selected as the opening film of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, the first Taiwanese film chosen for that slot.[4](https://www.twreporter.org/a/2021-taipei-golden-horse-film-festival-till-we-meet-again) It had originally been scheduled to world-premiere at the Taipei Film Festival in June 2021, but the festival was postponed to the autumn because of the pandemic, and the film appeared in Taiwan cinemas first.[13](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202108300160.aspx)
At the Taiwan box office it earned NT$235,315,573 in 2021, ranking second among Taiwanese films that year behind *Man in Love* (NT$405,402,260).[7](https://stat.moc.gov.tw/eBook_List_DoL.aspx?id=111_all&year=2022) In South Korea it opened on February 9, 2022, and drew 23,191 admissions.[14](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=58195)
**Awards.** At the 58th Golden Horse Awards the film received 11 nominations, including Best Feature Film, Best Supporting Actor (Umin Boya), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Action Choreography, Best Original Film Score, and Best Original Film Song, and won three: Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup & Costume Design, and Best Sound Effects.[6](https://www.taiwanfilmfestival.org.au/2022/till-we-meet-again) • [15](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14405280/awards/) At the 2022 Taipei Film Awards it won Best Director for Ko and Best Actor for Kai Ko, with nominations including Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor.[15](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14405280/awards/) It was also nominated for the 2022 Hong Kong Film Award for Best Asian Chinese Language Film.[15](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14405280/awards/)
## Place in Giddens Ko's career
Counting only his directing work, *Till We Meet Again* was Ko's third feature in the ten years after *You Are the Apple of My Eye* (2011) and *Mon Mon Mon Monsters* (2017); all three features were scored by Hou Chih-chien and shot by cinematographer Chou Yi-hsien.[3](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9151) Kai Ko, who starred in *You Are the Apple of My Eye*, reunited with the director here, and the film was noted as an uncommon case of a commercial genre film receiving a Golden Horse Best Feature Film nomination.[4](https://www.twreporter.org/a/2021-taipei-golden-horse-film-festival-till-we-meet-again) A *South China Morning Post* review gave it four stars and called it Ko's best film since *You Are the Apple of My Eye*, describing it as by turns funny, scary, tragic, and romantic.[10](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3160399/till-we-meet-again-movie-review-taiwanese-fantasy-romance?module=inline&pgtype=article)
Sources differ on the novel's publication year: the *Funscreen* weekly and Mirror Media place it in 2002, while a *The Reporter* feature says 2007.[3](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9151) • [11](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/story/20211126insight003) • [4](https://www.twreporter.org/a/2021-taipei-golden-horse-film-festival-till-we-meet-again)
## References
1. [月老 Till We Meet Again, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival archive](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/3135)
2. [月老．專訪｜九把刀自言一直睇實柯震東, HK01](https://www.hk01.com/%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1/715091/%E6%9C%88%E8%80%81-%E5%B0%88%E8%A8%AA-%E4%B9%9D%E6%8A%8A%E5%88%80%E8%87%AA%E8%A8%80%E4%B8%80%E7%9B%B4%E7%9D%87%E5%AF%A6%E6%9F%AF%E9%9C%87%E6%9D%B1-%E9%81%AD%E5%8F%8D%E6%93%8A-%E6%98%AF%E4%BB%96%E5%BE%88%E9%9C%80%E8%A6%81%E6%88%91)
3. [《月老》：不談放下，只談新生，九把刀的十年轉變, 放映週報 Funscreen](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9151)
4. [九把刀《月老》──感謝與原諒的懺情錄, 報導者 The Reporter](https://www.twreporter.org/a/2021-taipei-golden-horse-film-festival-till-we-meet-again)
5. [메이드 인 아시아 (Made in Asia), 27th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival catalog](https://27th.bifan.kr/download/Made_in_Asia_2022.pdf)
6. [TILL WE MEET AGAIN《月老》, Taiwan Film Festival in Australia](https://www.taiwanfilmfestival.org.au/2022/till-we-meet-again)
7. [Cultural Statistics 2022, Table 3-3-18, Ministry of Culture (Taiwan)](https://stat.moc.gov.tw/eBook_List_DoL.aspx?id=111_all&year=2022)
8. [月老 Till We Meet Again VFX Breakdown, WWWIND Studio](https://www.wwwindstudio.com/tillwemeetagain)
9. [電影｜月老, 台灣影視聽數位博物館 (TFAI Digital Museum)](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/mdb/mp_film/6b46dbadf6feb411ac59432f6cf57356)
10. [Till We Meet Again movie review, South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3160399/till-we-meet-again-movie-review-taiwanese-fantasy-romance?module=inline&pgtype=article)
11. [怕慘賠不敢推薦的劇本 九把刀編導《月老》喜奪3座金馬獎, 鏡週刊 Mirror Media](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/story/20211126insight003)
12. [苦惱「大家都對故事有意見」 黃立成一句話讓九把刀噁心又感動, 鏡週刊 Mirror Media](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/story/20211126insight004)
13. [北影開閉幕片出爐 「月老」「詭扯」台灣首亮相, 中央社 CNA](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202108300160.aspx)
14. [만년이 지나도 변하지 않는 게 있어 (Till We Meet Again), Cine21](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=58195)
15. [Till We Meet Again (2021) – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14405280/awards/)
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*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 › Fantasy films of the 2020s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license