'Classmates Minus' Full Cast List: Meet Jen-Shuo Cheng, Kuan-Ting Liu and rest of the stars of Netflix's Taiwanese dark comedy
'Classmates Minus' first aired on November 5, 2020, at Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and is now set to be released globally by Netflix. 'The Great Buddha+' director Hsin-yao Huang who won a Golden Horse Award for Best New Director is set to direct this dark comedy-drama. The film is jointly produced by 'A Sun' director Mong-Hong Chung and Yeh Ju-feng. If you love foreign films, this Taiwanese release is perfect for you.
This would not be the first Taiwanese movie being released on the streaming giant, it comes after the release of 'Little Big Women' which releases on February 5, 2021. 'Classmates Minus' February 20, 2021 release will bring perspectives of "ordinary" people living "ordinary" lives as "Four school buddies — a director, a temp worker, an insurance salesman and a paper craftsman — grapple with unfulfilled dreams amid middle age ennui."
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Jen-Shuo Cheng
Cheng is known for his works in 'Thanatos, Drunk' (2015), 'Gatao 2: Rise of the King' (2018), 'Schrodinger's Cat' (2018), and 'Magician on the roof' (2018). The actor's recent roles include Huang Ming-Yi in 'Han Dan' (2019), Wang Te-We in 'The Mirror' (2019) and ATai in 'Abyssal Spider' (2020). In 2019, Cheng won a Main Competition Award at the Chongqing Youth Film Festival for best actor for Magician on the roof'. That same year he also won a Youth Film Handbook Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for 'Jiao tou 2: Wang zhe zai qi' aka 'Gatao 2: Rise of the King'. Last year, he was also nominated for a Golden Carp Film Award - Chinese at the Faro Island Film Festival for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for 'Han Dan'. That same year he was also nominated for a Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor for 'Classmates Minus'. He has been nominated for two other Golden Horse Awards - one in 2015 for Best Supporting Actor for 'Zui sheng meng si' aka 'Thanatos, Drunk' and another in 2018 for the same category for 'Jiao tou 2: Wang zhe zai qi'.
Kuan-Ting Liu
Liu is known for his works on 'A Sun' (2019), 'My Missing Valentine' (2020), 'A Boy Named Flora A' (2017) and 'Jiang Teacher, You Talked About Love It' (2016). His recent works include 'Sent From Above' where he played the role of an assassin and 'Haru and Porky' where he played the role of Tien and 'A Choo' (2020). The actor won a Golden Bell Award in 2018 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Television Series for 'A Boy Named Flora A' and a Golden Horse Award in 2019 for Best Supporting Actor for 'Yangguang puzhao' aka 'A Sun'. Liu was also nominated for a Golden Horse Award in 2020 for Best Leading Actor for 'My Missing Valentine' and a Youth Film Handbook Award in 2020 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for 'A Sun'. He was also nominated for an Asian Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for the same production.
Na-Dou Lin
Lin is known for his roles as Nadow in 'Godspeed' (2016), Peanut in 'The Great Buddha+' (2017) and Whitebait in 'Merry Me' (2006). His recent works incluce 'Killer Not Stupid' (2019), the TV series 'Déjà vu' (2019), 'Best Interest' (2019), 'Leaving Virgina' (2020) and 'Dream Raider' (2020). The actor won a Golden Horse Award in 2020 for Best Supporting Actor for 'Classmates Minus' (2020). He also won a China Film Media Award for 'Best Supporting Actor' for 'Yi lu shun feng' aka 'Godspeed' in 2017. Lin was also nominated for a Golden Horse award in 2020 for Best Supporting Actor for 'Yi lu shun feng' and was nominated for a Golden Carp Film Award - Chinese at the 2018 Faro Island Film Festival for Best Ensemble Performance for 'The Great Buddha+'. He shared the latter with Yi-wen Chen, Shao-Huai Chang, Leon Dai, Bamboo Chu-Sheng Chen, and Cres Chuang.
Ming-Shuai Shih
Shih is known for his roles as Old Kenny in 'Fight' (2018), A-Jie in 'The Free Man' (2014), Tuan Yi in 'The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful' (2017) and Lin Yi-Chun in 'The World Between Us' (2019). His recent works include 'A Sun' (2019), 'Sheep Without a Shepherd' (2019), 'Detective Chinatown' (2020), and 'Animal Whisper' (2020). Shih has been nominated for four awards - a Golden Bell Award in 2014 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series/TV Movie for 'Zi you ren' (2014), a Festival Award at the 2018 International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema, London for Best Lead Actor in a Foreign Language Film for 'Fight', a filmmaker award at the 2018 International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema, Nice for Best Lead Actor in a Foreign Language Film for 'Fight' and lastly a Fusion Award nomination at the 2019 North Europe International Film Festival for the same category and production.
The rest of the cast includes Yi-wen Chen, Evelyn Yu-Tong Cheng, Jennifer Ling Hung, Ada Pan, Lotus Wang and Zhi-Ying Zhu.
The synopsis of the film reads, "'Classmates Minus' depicts the lives of ordinary people in society and, with a comedic stroke, paints a picture of the grim reality that they face. The plot unfolds with four high school friends catching up with each other at a bubble tea shop. The men are now in their forties, but they still grapple with challenges in life. One devotes his life to work with next to no appreciation, and one discovers that his goddess-like high school crush has since become a prostitute. One who had always dreamed of becoming a film director somehow ended up running for legislator. The four protagonists have all gone to great lengths to pursue a better life, yet they have received little return. This sentiment echoes the many ups and downs that ordinary folk in Taiwan experience every day."
Catch 'Classmates Minus' on Saturday, February 20, 2021, on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.