In 2018, the box office receipts for Taiwanese films increased by about 20 per centover the previous year. The local market gained momentum during the Lunar New Year with the release of Back to the Good Times and Gatao 2: Rise of the King, then it slowed down again, coming back to life for the summer. The end of the year delivered some successes, too, with titles such as Dear Ex and More than Blue, which along with The Devil Fish, brought new energy into the Taiwanese film industry.
Throughout the year, from Gatao 2: Rise of the King and Back to the Good Times to More than Blue and The Devil Fish, the biggest hits in theatres were adaptations or sequels. These productions reflect local filmmakers’ increasing ability to deal with the complex marketing of commercial films. On the other hand, Taiwan’s top five box office hits account for almost 80 per cent of last year’s total earnings, showing a trend in which successes and failures are increasingly polarized. Although works like Secrets in the Hot Spring and The Scoundrels didn’t shine in terms of sales, it was pleasing to witness their attempt to work on new film genres. But it was upsetting to see a poor public response to this exploration of new artistic forms and visual models.
Gatao 2: Rise of the King and Back to the Good Times, launched during the 2018 Lunar New Year, both surpassed the NT$100 million threshold at the box office. The former, which was one of the big successes of the holiday period, is a gangster movie full of violent confrontations over gangland territory. It debunks the myth that the Taiwanese public will only watch light comedies during the Lunar New Year.
Back to the Good Times, on the other hand, is adapted from the TV series of the same name by the same production team, and presents local themes in a plot that crosses space and time. It’s a shame that the rush to release it during the festivities resulted in a flawed script and shorter production times, otherwise the box office would certainly have been much better.
Light comedies about naive high-school kids are definitely one of the strong points of Taiwanese cinema, and during the last year there were two in theatres, About Youth and How to Train Our Dragon. The first, starring young idols Dino Lee and Bii, has a plot similar to Our Times, in which an anonymous girl receives the attention of her far more fascinating schoolmates. Its box office total of NT$8.87 million reflected its lacklustre quality. How to Train Our Dragon is a co-production with mainland China adapted from a literary best-seller of the same name; the now ubiquitous Kent Tsai plays the lead role. Both productions hoped to make their way into the youth market, but didn’t achieve the expected results because of confused and blurred narratives. The delays in the release of How to Train Our Dragon also negatively impacted its promotion.
But this setback for “campus comedies” did not prevent Long Time No Sea, which was almost entirely acted by non-professionals, from achieving good sales through word of mouth. Set on the remote island of Lanyu off the coast of Taiwan, which is inhabited by the Dawu Aborigines, the film is based on a true story. A young boy from Lanyu follows his father to the city, who had already moved there for work reasons, and decides to take part in a traditional dance competition. With great honesty, the film deals with issues such as the chasm between countryside and cities, the generation gap, and the clash between the dominant han culture and the aborigines. Its young star Si Pangoyod won a Golden Horse Award for best emerging actor.
The Taiwanese film industry has made considerable efforts to expand the horror film genre in recent years, and the best representative of this category is The Tag-Along. It’s a saga inspired by a ghost story that was covered by media some 20 years ago. Based on popular tales of the evil spirit Moo-sin-a, a legend with deep anthropological significance, the frightening character of the “little girl dressed in red” was born. Cheng Wei-hao’s The Tag-Along successfully passed the local market test at the end of 2015 with a take of NT$85 million, and in the summer of 2017, the same team created the sequel (The Tag-Along 2).This covers issues such as land exploitation and mother-daughter love, and adds elements from popular beliefs about the tiger god. The box office was even higher than the original.
The Devil Fish is the third episode of the series, and although it’s configured as a sort of spin-off, it’s also a prequel to its predecessorsdue to the existing links between the characters. The episode has a new director, David Chuang, and a renewed cast, with Cheng Jen-shuo and Vivian Hsu in the leading roles. The film’s narrative develops along three threads. The first has Cheng Jen-shuo possessed by the tiger god, the second is about a pianist portrayed by Vivian Hsu, and the third is about a family that is inexplicably slaughtered. The three narrative lines intertwine, leading to the appearance of the girl in red and another evil spirit, the human-faced fish. The film also features the Tiger Temple spirits, which were present in the previous installment.
Remaining on the theme of problematic family relationships, The Devil Fish presents us with three situations: Cheng Jen-shuo is dominated by the pain of losing his wife, Vivian Hsu struggles to forgive her husband who cheated on her, and the cursed family hides an unmentionable secret. The resentment nurtured by the characters in their hearts allows the spirits to possess them.
The positive response to The Tag-Along series, and the subsequent opening-up of the horror market in Taiwan, are among the factors behind the release of another horror, The Rope Curse, which is also rooted in the taboos of Taiwanese folklore. Directed by newcomer Liao Shih-san, the film is inspired by the custom in Taiwan’s coastal cities of offering rouzong (glutinous rice rolls) to the souls of those who committed suicide by hanging themselves. The terror element of ancient local legends is combined with themes such as live-streaming culture, school bullies and sentimental problems. The film, which was also talked about because of its release in the seventh lunar month (when, according to tradition, the ancestors’ spirits awaken), grossed almost NT$50 million at the box office.
The half-horror, half-thriller Secrets in the Hot Spring follows another path. It’s the story of a high-school student who, together with two classmates, goes to visit a dilapidated hotel run by his grandparents. The feature film is essentially a noir comedy with elements of youthful friendship and family tenderness, all enriched by that vein of bizarre humour that characterised Hong Kong films such as A Chinese Ghost Story. Art design, costumes, set design and special effects provide an atmospheric watch, something that’s unusual in Taiwan films.
Taiwan has always lacked commercial action films, which is why The Scoundrels resonated around the Taiwanese film industry, particularly as the choreography of the action scenes worked so well. In the past, such scenes only appeared sporadically in gangster movies or thrillers, as action and chase oriented films are extremely rare in Taiwan. But new director Hung Tzu-hsuan proved himself up to the task. From coordinating actors and action scenes, to photography and music, and even sound effects, it’s extremely cohesive, supplying a Taiwanese-style action show.
The Scoundrels is about a former basketball player who had to retire because of a scandal, and who makes ends meet by working with a gang of car thieves. One day his path intersects with that of the unstoppable “raincoat bandit” who specialises in robbing cash transportation vans. The protagonist decides to associate with him, but his ex-accomplices and the police are already after him.
Director Hung Tzu-hsuan, after studying action films in his formative years, had already gained some experience with a few short films. In The Scoundrels, he collaborated with promising young choreographer Hung Shih-hao, meticulously planning the movements of each character and scene. J.C. Lin, who plays the former basketball player, is not exactly a champion performer in the action scenes, but he does stand out for his quick reflexes. The “raincoat bandit” himself, played by Chris Wu, acts vigorously and swiftly. The set design and the locations all have aTaiwanese feel, and include fish shops, crashed cars sites, narrow alleysand stairwells. The whole thing is extremely realistic,and adds up to a film that hits the mark with every punch.
Although The Scoundrels bravely paved the way for action films, it was not taken seriously by Taiwanese audiences used to Hollywood productions, and it disappointed at the box office. The launch of Dear Ex brought a new wave of excitement. The film had its world premiere at the FEFF, won four awards at the Taipei Film Festival in mid-2018, including best feature film, and won best actress, best editing and best score at the Golden Horse Awards. The Scoundrels was also selected for the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, where directors Mag Hsu and Hsu Chih-yen received the New Talent Award. The humorous vein adopted by the picture to deal with difficult issues such as parent-child relationships and homosexuality makes for anextremely enjoyable work.
More than Blue, by Gavin Lin with Jasper Liu and Ivy Chen, is an adaptation of the Korean film of the same name from 2009. As the title suggests, it is a film about young love dominated by a sense of growing sadness. It’s a romantic, tear-jerking tragedy centered on two high-school friends, a boy and a girl, who lost their families and became close because they lived together for ten years, without getting into a romantic a relationship. When the boy discovers that he is terminally ill, to avoid his friend’s suffering, he tries to keep it a secret, and looks for someone to make her happy for the rest of her life.
More than Blue boasts photography by Hong Kong’s Kwan Pung-leung, who skillfully supports the plot by moving from the first bright and brilliant scenes to the darker and more oppressive final ones. The chiaroscuro gradually envelops viewers with a deep romantic atmosphere. The film makes good use of Jasper Liu’s innocent pragmatism and Ivy Chen’s lively intelligence to create the spark between the characters, demonstrating a very good command of the narrative tools of the Korean original. The deep feelings of the two young people lead to a tragic ending of poignant beauty.
Although More than Blue’s original story was about two young employees, after a test screening, the producers realized that the plot would bemore welcome among high-schoolstudents. The target audience was changed and the promotional strategy was revised, leading toan early release of the music track A Kind of Sorrow, which ensured the success of the film. After just nine days, the box office take had already surpassed the NT$100 million milestone. The final result more than doubled that sum, closing 2018 with a happy ending for Taiwanese films.
Hsiang Yifei