Hung said that his idea for Human Comedy was taken from a painting based on The Book of 24 Filial Pieties. "When I looked at the paintings, these old stories seemed to have new meaning to me. They are all about a simple kind of obsession, and are similar to many people's experiences," he said.
The film is also Hung's tribute to late theater director Tian Chi-yuan (
If the more dramatic Human Comedy offers a realistic look at Taipei, then the 71-minute digital film A Garden in the Sky looks at Taipei from a fantasy angle. Using a semi-documentary style, Hung used a street-interview situation to ask people about their relationships with their clothes.
In a department store, there are various faces and body types staring down the camera murmuring about their love-hate relationships with the clothes: brothers and sisters wearing hand-me-downs from their deceased mother, a cultural theorist talking about clothing fetishes, a man with an underwear fetish sharing his fantasy, and also Hung's father, a clothing manufacturer, discussing the rise and fall of Taiwan's clothing manufacturing industry.
Hung vividly presents the intriguing role of clothing and fashion, the frontispiece of an individual's emotions and desire, but also the thing which confines and limits their bodies. A Garden in the Sky looks like modern theater played out on human bodies as the stage.
The film is also like a carnival given Hung's poetic, experimental film style. Several shots represent the peculiar scenes in Taipei: the numerous shoe shops in Hsimenting; the crowded hillside residences near the outskirts of Taipei; the city soaked in rain and wind during the typhoon season; and the old houses on Taipei's Tihua street.
"I met Taiwanese people in France after screenings of the films. They all said they really wanted to go back to Taipei. It is indeed a lovely city," Hung said.
Both Human Comedy and A Garden in the Sky can be seen starting tomorrow at the Majestic Theater. Beginning May 4, Human Comedy will have English subtitles.
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