Re/turn

Performance Friday 15th April 2011, 7.30pm

My teacher gave me some tickets to see this performance, by the Tainaner Theatre Troupe. I'd been to the theatre in the Xinyi branch of Eslite before to see a play inspired by the songs of Chen Qizhen, a Taiwanese singer (膚色の時光 Once, upon hearing the skin tone). I remembered so clearly having been there before because the stage is slightly unusual in that it is a round stage that divides the audience into two sections at either side of the stage, which means they enter through two separate doors. The last play I'd seen staged here had been interesting technically but weak in terms of plot. This play was similarly weak plot-wise - think a school production of Back to the Future fused with the cheese factor of popular Taiwanese TV dramas (Meteor Garden, The Devil Beside You). The story is about several connected love stories gone wrong. The death of the female protagonist's mother halts her wedding to a closeted gay man, and her mother comes back through time via a magic doorknob acquired in Tibet from an antique seller (who was portrayed with possibly the weakest piece of acting in the whole play). This sets off a series of events which changes the lives of the protagonists (in Sliding Doors fashion), so that they get the chance to "Re/turn" to the scene of their unresolved regrets and "amend" them. The female protagonist is reunited with her lost love, and the gay man is accepted by his best friend as a teenager (again thanks to the magic doorknob) so gets the confidence to come out early in life and so avoids the pitfalls of soliciting rent boys and using (God help us all) marijuana (there is an amusing scene where a major police bust over one joint).

The major problems with the play was not the acting, which was convincing, but rather the whole concept of the play, certain elements of which seemed to be lifted right out of Taiwanese popular culture and films. The obsession with making the play "international" without incorporating any international actors was also a problem for the play. It pandered to the Taiwanese obsession with European and Japanese culture, in that a lot of the play was set in London - where the male lead Charles had apparently grown up with an American accent; there was also a Taiwanese actress playing a Japanese dancer, two very Taiwanese sounding Americans as well as a Taiwanese playing a British postman. Only the latter was vaguely funny, with deliberate use of British English terms designed specifically to make the audience laugh, and none of them sounded natural in english. The director and writer Cai Bozhang (蔡柏璋), though a good singer, was a little self-indulgent as he sang in Taiwanese inflected English through most of the play. My companion for the evening, one of my classmates pointed out something that I think speaks true of my experience of the contemporary Taiwanese Theatre: that because the writers of a lot of the plays produced nowadays also act as director and actors, the scripts that they write are not really the focus of their work, and do not stand alone as literary works. Rather, the event and the production takes first place. The result is the rather paltry, soap-operaesque dialogue seen in this production.
It was a pity that the talented acting of the actors wasn't put to a better use, more worthy of the stage, otherwise the only role of theatre in Taiwan would seem to be to give a live experience of soap operas.

If we are to take the piece seriously as a piece of theatre, the other thing I have a problem with is the moralistic pedagogy of the production, and its assertion that there is "right" path in life that we are diverted from, which seems a rather simplistic and egotistical exercise in self-affirmation by the director (people who don't follow my liberal ideology are following the wrong path). Any deeper exploration of the idea of regret and "fixing the past" is absent, sexuality too, receives quite a superficial treatment in the play. There are two major gay stereotypes in action within the play. The director plays the role of the "gay best friend" of the protagonist, described as her "妺妺" (little sister) that we "might think is a little unusual". There is, however nothing unusual to a Western viewer about this kind of character: the emasculated, non-predatory inocuous gay male referred to by terms usually reserved for females (think of a slightly updated version of Are You Being Served's Mr Humphries, or a character lightly based on Taiwanese celebrity Cai Kangyong (蔡康永). His "one true love", Peter, (pause - wipe off the vomit - continue) is dead, so his sexuality is essentially safely removed from the present for the audience. The closeted gay fiance reversion to type after coming out also suggests that his previous masculinity was but a ruse, and at the end of the play he is shoe-horned into the "gay best friend" role as evidence of his acceptance of his sexuality. The other two representations of gay men, are also stereotypes, the predatory older man who chases the closeted gay man when he is a high school student, and the rent boy, whose brazen sexuality and drug-use lead him to arrest, which can be seen as divine justice within the play. As opposed to representing sexuality in a more diverse way, the production instead homogenises sexual and gender roles.

To sum up, the play is easy watching, its ending is predictable and safe. This is the territory of liberal morality and its pedagogical unfolding is suitably bland. None of which is what motivates me to go to the theatre, why pay 600NT or more to see a low-budget, albeit live, rehash of a feel-good movie. The night I went the production overran by about 40 minutes, so expect to be impatiently looking at your watch while you watch the happy-ending play out at length to the crooning wails of the directors singing.

Don't expect much and you'll have a long but vaguely entertaining night. 2/5

For more information go to the blog here.

Below are some interviews with cast members in and out of character:

Shortbus (2006) John Cameron Mitchell

I liked this film because of the way it dealt with emotion and sex, and the labyrinthine sexual and emotional struggles that people have to deal with. Its graphic nature lends itself to an argument that the so-called "pop philosopher" Slavoj Žižek made in The Pervert's Guide to Cinema:

Pornography is, and it is, a deeply conservative genre. It's not a genre where everything is permitted. It's a genre base don a fundamental prohibition. We cross one threshold, you can see everything, close ups and so on, but the price you pay for it is that the narrative with justifies sexual activity should not be taken seriously. The screenwriters for pornography cannot be so stupid. You know, these vulgar narratives of a housewife alone at home, a plumber comes, fixes the hole, then the housewife turns to him, 'Sorry, but I have another hold to be fixed. Can you do it?' or whatever. Obviously there is some kind of a censorship here. You have either an emotionally engaging film, but then you should stop bust before showing it all, sexual act, or you can see it all but you are now allowed then to be emotionally seriously engaged. So that's the tragedy of pornography.

This film's graphic sexual portrayals are more akin to the reality of sex in the strong attachment with emotion that they have - and the aspirations, deeply held unease that is held in our sexuality surfaces in the characters - pressure to perform, the pressure to enjoy sex with someone you love, pressure to convince yourself that you are happy and fulfilled.

There were definite moments of recognition for me in the film, whether it be the struggle to deal with and embrace the physiological reality of your body, the emotional payload of sex or just learning to interact in a relationship that is both sexual and emotional. I found a lot of the dialogue was funny and rang truer than either the aforesaid pornographic vulgarity or the archetypal demands of romance films or rom-coms.

I can see where the film might receive some flak - the self-conscious reference to 9 11, and a hipsterish romantic notion of "New Yorkers" and sex clubs, but on a whole I never felt the film lurched into pretentiousness, and the situations and characters were believeable to me within the context of the fim.

I liked the idea that the structure in one's life being portrayed as such a fragile thing, and that the surface actions of your behaviour can go on from one day to the next while underneath everything has already changed.

4.5/5
Here's the trailer:



And a rant from Slavoj Žižek:

南方澳海洋紀事

導演：李香秀
片長：98分
完成年代：2004

最近有機會參加「台灣原住民與南島民族歷史與未來」國際研討會，大多數的
發言人再三地強調「台灣沒有太平洋意識」與「台灣是一個陸封的社會」等說
法1。言論的人都認為「海」對台灣人來說是一種陌生、可怕的存在。 這部紀
錄片表面上跟這種概念是相異的，它紀錄的便是台灣人對海和對太平洋島的了
解、接觸。然而，雖然這個行業是在海上進行的，但是觀眾倏地發現因為釣魚
對台灣的傳統民俗信仰來說屬於行業其中一個，所以他還是由土地公掌控的。
因此台灣的漁人優先拜的是土地公，而他們的思路還是一種陸封的思路。他們
對太平洋和對「海」的了解充滿著無知和無情。在紀錄片中臺灣的民俗傳統跟
菲律賓漁工的天主教和大陸的民俗信仰並列地出顯，布過三者都是分開的進
行，文化交接比較少。台灣人跟太平洋的對話、接觸多半的情況下都是在賭
博、嫖妓的場景中發生的。其他的情況下，不管是跟大陸漁工或菲律賓也好，
台灣人還是保持距離，並非產生出跟台平洋或中國大陸的對話或意識。雖然本
片並沒有強調「民俗」的角色和作用，不過這樣的草根勞動階級的漁工便是台
灣民俗信仰對於「海」和「島嶼上的生活」最重要的邊界。

4.5/5

預告片可以去 http://cc.shu.edu.tw/~hlee9/NanFangAo.htm 下載

나쁜 남자 Bad Guy (2002)

What struck me most about this film was how a series of events can completely alter one's world view, what had seemed so important to the female lead, a clumsy romance with a conventional boyfriend, an art history degree, sexual purity, loses all it's relevance in light of her experiences in prostitution. One way of looking at the male protagonist's actions towards her would be a kind of leveling; she spat on him in the first scene and slapped him humiliating him, and he revenges himself by making her realise how fragile her morality and her dignity really is. The bond between them seems two-fold though, he watches her be violated, but then avenges this violation by beating her violators. He too, tries to violate her, but turns to one of the other girls instead to release the sexual tension; she knows he tricked her into prostitution but is drawn to him at the same time. The female lead at the start of the film is unlikeable, and it is through the eyes of Hangi (the male protagonist) peeping through the glass at her repeated violation and subsequent resgination, that the audience sees her change and become more in touch with human emotion. The protagonist on his first meeting with the girl stands out of the crowd, with a scar drawn across his neck, and her look of disgust is because she knows what kind of person he is. So instead of trying to leave the world he is in, he brings her into his world, he becomes her pimp, as opposed turning (in a familiar Hollywood trope) into her Prince Charming.


I felt for a moment on hearing Hangi's high pitched voice, that the film would lull into cliché with the anti-hero being ashamed of his voice but getting up the courage to say he loved the heroine. This didn't occur, although the protagonist perhaps is reflecting on his own feelings of inferiority when he beats up his friend, shouting at him that it was stupid for a hooligan to have dreams of love. It is not love that wins out at the end of the film, but a kind of acknowledgement of and resgination to the bond they have which they consumated when she spat in his face and he watched her lose her virginity by a paying client.

I thought it was a great film, the intensity of the male protagonist was played fantastically, and the way the plot played out was original and uncannily real.



5/5

Kawut na Cinat’kelang

片名：Kawut na Cinat’kelang ／ 划大船 ／ Rowing the Big Assembled Boat
發行單位：我們工作室有限公司
發行年：2009
片長：58分
導演：林建享



本片的焦點便是達悟族朗島部落為了2007年的Keep rowing海洋練習曲的計畫而造船、出海的過程。這部紀綠片很特別的一點就是達悟族人，尤其是郭建平（Shyman Vengayen），對自己的傳統文化的手工業的禁忌的肯定，這些禁忌同時也意味著對漢文化、全球化的工業經濟觀念的批評。為了持續、推廣蘭嶼的南島文化傳統，某些禁忌需要被破壞。不過這種破壞還是以傳統儀式來應付。據郭建平來說在二十一世紀對漢人來說台灣原住民文化的角色不再是像之前一樣，為一種玩樂、有趣的題材而已，而是一種另類的生活模式的教育對像。台灣的漢人失敗的社會方面，譬方說環保、可持續的發展等社會議體，可以向原住民社會找解決的方法手段。這種概念跟菲律賓導演奇拉‧塔西米克(Kidlat Tahimik)的紀錄片《土倫巴》和《為什麼彩虹的中間是黃色》有類似的目標：從原住民文化找到一些可以幫助所謂「先進」的世界的智慧來教育西方、漢人。

電影討論原住民的禁忌作用的轉換，讓他們可以參與這分為 外地人而造船的手工業活動。原住民面對推廣自己的文化需要尊重這個文化，而不是出賣他們的文化為一種玩樂而已。片中也包括造船的一些傳統歌曲的母語、中文和英文的紀錄，同時也是因為這是一個新的生活經驗，而是還記錄新造出來的歌曲。 電影的品質很好，很值得看。

Le tribunal itinérant Directed by Zheng Wenqing

A woman tearfully reads a letter from her paraplegic husband which grants her a divorce from him. The husband looks on as she reads his words advising her to divorce him so that she can have time for herself and to look after their son instead of being a full time carer for him. The wife breaks down in tears and we catch a glimpse of something approaching smugness at the emotional outpouring he has elicited with his self-sacrifice. The court official, frustrated with the lack of efficiency first tells the wife to calm down, then asks her to pass the letter to a court official who reads the letter as disinterestedly as if he's explaining the rules of Monopoly - the emotional words of the wife, punctuated with breathy cries are transformed into a dull bureaucratic legal confirmation, a tick in column A and column B so to speak. These two elements of the documentary were the elements that most lucidly translated to my own experience of China. The first being the naïve sentimentality woven into the framework of personal tragedy, be it a wife eulogizing her husband's self-sacrifice, or the evident pride with which the husband perceives himself in her reaction. These scenes, which are common in Chinese soap operas and films (think A World without Thieves, Together or even Infernal Affairs in the scene where the policeman is thrown off the roof.) They seem at times to be the equivalent of corny lifetime movies, when children get cancer but remain irritatingly upbeat about it or the emotive conceits of film noir. There is an unashaméd yank at the heartstrings that is counterbalanced by the other element of Chinese culture that hit me hard in the culture clash, that is the unrelenting Kafkaesque nature of bureaucracy, where people's (overly-) emotional rending is treated like a tax receipt that has been filled out incorrectly. The itinerant court sets up in absurd locations, carrying the plaque of the republic which is hung over classrooms, and in muddy village squares. The judges seem reasonable enough though they play to the crowd at times who seem to have come for the entertainment value (I'm reminded of the staring immobile faces that surround Chinese car accidents.) The documentary's grasp of these elements of Chinese society, both its strength and its weakness, make the documentary interesting for foreign viewers, as this is the elements of culture that are so alien to the contemporary Western world.

Interesting but not essential viewing 3/5

C.R.A.Z.Y.

Named after the song by Patsy Cline, "C.R.A.Z.Y." (2005) is a French-Canadian coming-of-age movie set in the '60s by Jean-Marc Vallée (sort of reminiscent of "A Christmas Story" (1983)).  The protagonist is the youngest son out of the four brothers with an overbearing father and doting mother.  The youngest son, Michel, is the oddball since he's sensitive, intuitive (said to possess a gift by the "tupperware lady") and is close to his mother.  He also happens to be homosexual but I think this movie has universal appeal as it focuses on the strained relationship between brothers with conflicting personality types as well as the complex father-son relationship, much less adding sexuality and Catholicism to the mix.  He also had a long-term relationship with a ginger, Michelle, for most of the movie though has been conflicted since he has reached puberty.

The father openly condemns but secretly relishes when Michel breaks the rules while reinforcing traditionally masculine vices, such as when he brings a girl over and when he gets sent home from school for beating up another student.

The eldest brother is the 'Casanova' and also the bad boy who rides a motorcycle and never commits to a relationship.  He's the one that has always butted heads with Michel, calling him a "faggot," but he was also the one who stood up for him at another brother's wedding when relatives were gossiping about Michel's sexual orientation.

This is a very realistic, humorous, and emotional portrayal of family life.  Showing how human parents really are and how redemption can come even after decades of emotional trauma.

I couldn't find a YouTube trailer with English subtitles...