It was at the film set of Lin Cheng-sheng's (
"Of course it's a hard environment for us. There are scarce opportunities," said Chen, the leading actress and lonely woman who wandered Paris in Tsai Ming-liang's (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
An actress for more than 10 years, Chen has only appeared in seven movies. The small number of opportunities is one reason -- consider that Taiwan produced only 16 films last year -- but Chen also has personal reasons for having limited her screen roles. She was away from the business for three years studying theater performance in New York and now teaches acting at Taiwan Arts University, as well.
"We have never felt much of the pain in the whole process, perhaps because we've never tasted the sweetness, either. For us, the hardship is always normal," said Dai, who plays Chen's onscreen boyfriend and was her real-life classmate at the college where she now teaches.
For a year in which he had no acting opportunities, Dai hosted at a call-in show on a cable channel.
But he hasn't had to worry about a lack of opportunities lately. Dai has averaged three film contracts a year for the past three years, making him one of the highest-profile actors in Taiwan. He appeared as a gang member in Lin's Betelnut Beauty (
"My screen time and screen exposure have exceeded the amount for big movie stars in the 1970s, a prosperous era for Taiwan's film industry," said Dai.
"Does Taiwan not have any movie stars?" I ask them. When we discuss the question, Dai seems a little more agitated than Chen.
In the late 1980s, a group of directors presented a new film language to voice Taiwan's social reality, a wave now called New Taiwan Cinema (
"The directors at that time figured highly and it became the trend. So the spotlight [continues] to shine on the directors, not the actors. They are more like the stars. ... To establish a screen image for Taiwanese audiences is something I've been trying to achieve," Dai said. "I work hard and I'm responsible for every role I take," he said.
Lacking stardom is a symptom of Taiwan's barely surviving movie industry. Dai lights a cigarette and explains why.
"In Hollywood, the marketing and publicity arms of a [production company] will do everything they can to publicize the actors' faces. But here, nobody is spending money to promote us," he said.
"Marketing in Taiwan's film industry is so weak that the promotional budget for a local film is far less than that of a pop music album," Dai said. The industry struggles to brighten the star of even an actor with three contracts a year, let alone less exposed actors.
But there is always hope and passion, at least in Lin's newest project. Dai will play Robinson, a real-estate salesman who is surrounded by several women and the troubles of his loathsome job. "It will be a love story with modern feelings," said Lin.
Stardom for Chen is an old concept. "We cannot go back to the glory days of the 1970s, why not try something new?" she said after finishing her make-up. Chen has been accompanying Tsai on his nation-wide lecture tour of college campuses for the film What Time Is It There?. Using this new means of promotion, the film has garnered nearly NT$2 million at the box office.
"There will always be a huge gap between us and Hollywood. We don't have to chase them. We should be walking our own roads. It may be hard, but we should try as we can," said Chen.
Dai agreed. "Hollywood is not the only standard. We [referring to himself and Chen] joined this business at a time when we already knew about the weakened environment. Nobody forced us. I have this working philosophy that as long as I'm happy with what I do, I will continue. In this is business, you shouldn't struggle with reluctance and complaints, because you can always leave," he said.
And for now the two actors are happy with what they do.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located