Critic Huang Chien-yeh notes that in addition to increased use of amateurs to play characters, and skilled use of the long shot and depth of field to capture emotions, "the content of the new films was very different from before. Themes about the growth of youth and women, past experience, native identity and social change all became material to work with.
除了啟用大量非職業演員及擅長用長鏡頭、淺焦的處理方式，來捕捉人物的情感世界外，影評人黃建業認為，「台灣新電影在內容上有了很大的變革，青少年、女性的成長主題、歷史經驗的探討、本土意識的反省及社會變遷的訊息，都成為一再出現的素材。