SUNSHINE WOMEN'S CHOIR (阳光女子合唱团) (NETFLIX) (2025)

SYNOPSIS: As the birthday song plays, a baby girl is born inside a women's prison, welcomed by four inmates, each burdened by a painful past. When a rebellious newcomer arrives, clashes give way to friendship. After the baby is diagnosed with an eye disease, the inmates form a prison choir to gift the baby girl a final memory. Drawing from real-life stories, director Gavin Lin's heartfelt drama blends humour, music, and redemption. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Taiwan’s highest-grossing movie, Sunshine Women’s Choir looks like it was inspired by the 2013 Korean hit comedy Miracle in Cell No. 7, but in actual fact, it is based on the lesser-known Harmony (2010), directed by Kang Dae-kyu.

Director Gavin Lin (More than Blue, Yesterday Once More) teams up with his regular collaborator, Hermes Lu, to tell a heartwarming, tear-jerking tale about Hui-Zhen (Ivy Chen) and her fellow inmates, including the elderly Yu-ying, a former singer (played by veteran superstar Judy Ongg), Pei-ying (Sun Shu-mei), Xiu-lan (Amber An) and newcomer You-xin (Ho Man-xi).

Everyone, it seems, has their own sad story to tell. Yu-ying is estranged from her daughter after murdering her unfaithful husband and her intellectually challenged young son. Pei-ying was jailed for being a scam artist, while Xiu-lan was imprisoned for drug smuggling. You-xin, on the other hand, is left to fend for herself after her mother left and her father died of an illness.

The main character, however, is Hui-Zhen, who gives birth to a daughter while serving her prison sentence. When the child is later diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease, she is forced to give her baby up for adoption, as the prison lacks the resources and financial means to provide the care she needs.

Sunshine Women’s Choir is basically a crowd-pleasing comedy-drama, unlike classic gritty prison dramas such as Prison on Fire or the recent, far-fetched Breakout Brothers series. While Lin and Lu attempt to inject some dramatic “prison” action by introducing antagonists in the form of Wang Mei-li (comedian Chung Hsin-ling) and her crony Nikki (Chen Zi-ling), it is ultimately just a trope to have Yu-ying recruit them into her choir, which is formed to put on a farewell performance for Hui-Zhen’s daughter.

Despite a generous dose of melodic choir music, the story is also filled with various social messages, including domestic violence (which results in a couple of flashbacks), same-sex marriage and the adoption system. It is the sort of story that tries to cover everything, while becoming somewhat doozy and even overly melancholic at times. Of course, it is also not a particularly true reflection of the lives of inmates.

But as a commercial movie, Sunshine Women’s Choir is a highly enjoyable crowd-pleaser. The cast is fantastic, from Judy Ongg to Ivy Chen, with a special shoutout to Amber An, Chung Hsin-ling and Sun Shu-mei for their flawless chemistry and comedic talents.

You may criticise the movie for painting an utterly false image of prison life, but what’s life without a little warmth and love?

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee