The hidden life of a cross-dresser who's got religion

If Formula 17 (十七歲的天空) was the first homemade movie about homosexuality to conquer the mainstream market, now Splendid Float (艷光四射歌舞團) has gone one step further to talk about the lives of drag queens in Taiwan, singing and dancing on neon-decorated trucks around Taiwan.

Chiang Wei (Chen Yu-ming, 陳煜明) is the lead singer in the Splendid Float cabaret. He has an exotic, androgynous look that attracts both men and women, including Ayang (Chung Yi-ching, 鍾以慶), who is from a fishing village.

Chiang is also a Daoist priest who presides over funerals. It's a family business. A spiritual guide is one of the most traditional jobs and one of the oldest variety show formats in Taiwan local culture.

One day Chiang is called to preside over a service but realizes that it is his lover's funeral. Ayang has drowned at sea in an accident. Chiang leads Ayang's soul to its final resting place while mourning ladies do energetic hip-swaying dances.

Chiang's daytime job is, director Zero Chou (周美玲) seems to infer, not much different from his nighttime work at the Splendid Float Cabaret.

The images of the film are bright, with high-contrast colors, but the plot and characters are weak.

A lot of the sentiment of the movie is delivered through songs in the cabaret, which are old Taiwanese songs, mainly cheesy laments about past love. The songs are interesting enough as concepts but not expressive enough as a means to guide spirits or to connect the living and the dead.

Screening Theaters: Spring Cinema, Spot -- Taipei Film House, Cinemark Taipei and Cinemark Kaohsiung from Oct. 15.