At the age of 17, Norwegian Taiwanese director Hakon Liu (劉漢威) left his home in the countryside of Pingtung County, where his missionary parents still live, to begin a new life in Scandinavia. He studied fine arts for five years but decided the subject was “too lonely” for his personality. Liu found his calling in cinema at the age of 25 and has made dozens of short films and television programs since.
I met him for an interview one day before the release of his feature debut Miss Kicki (霓虹心), a Taiwanese-Swedish co-production shot mostly in Taiwan. The 34-year-old was laid-back, laughed frequently and at one point during the interview apologized for being slow on account of the karaoke party he partook in the night before.
Miss Kicki tells the story of a Swedish woman and her son who travel to Taiwan to heal their estranged relationship. The project was tailor-made for Cannes-winning Swedish actress Pernilla August, internationally known for her role in Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander. The film also features local comedian Ken Lin (林暐恆), better known as A-ken (阿Ken), and young talent Huang He River (黃河), who plays the teenage boy who’s in love with Viktor, the Swedish son played by Ludwig Palmell.
Taipei Times: What is your most distinct childhood memory growing up in the countryside of Pingtung?
Hakon Liu: When I write stories, I go back to my childhood memories. I close my eyes and see paddy fields, small paths and me riding a bicycle. Pingtung is very rural and has lots of bell-fruit orchards and areca trees. Thinking of that gives me lots of inspiration, even when I am writing stuff in Sweden.
TT: Even when you write a Swedish story that takes place in Sweden?
HL: Yes. I need to ask a psychologist about it [laughs]. I know some directors feel the same way. It is like an inspiration bank. You know which door to open to be more creative, to be in contact with something.
TT: And you come back to Taiwan once or twice a year?
HL: Oh yes. There is no such thing as less than once a year. I wouldn’t survive otherwise.
I usually visit my family and friends in Pingtung. And of course it’s more fun in Taipei where I have another type of friends [laughs].
TT: Why did you decide to make your feature debut in Taiwan?
HL: I always have a strong connection with Taiwan and wanted to come back. When I wrote a story for Pernilla, I was stuck in a Swedish story. One day my film professor said “why don’t you send Pernilla to Taiwan,” which at the moment I thought was the worst idea ever. I can’t send Permilla to Taiwan. That’s a recipe for disaster.
But the story fell into place in just a few days. You got a certain mood, an abstract feeling about what road you were going down. It is strange how things fall into place.
So we thought: why make it easy when you can make it hard.
TT: Your previous shorts like Kar I Natten and Lucky Blue are about gay coming-of-age stories. Is this a constant theme in your works?
HL: I have always been interested in the coming-of-age theme combined with the road-movie genre. I’ve made many short films so even though the two you talked about do touch on gay issues, I’ve made a lot more non-gay films ... I lost the question [laughs].
TT: About the two shorts?
HL: Yes. Let’s talk about Lucky Blue. It is a minor breakthrough for me in the sense that I found a certain type of mood and air to my work which I develop further in Miss Kicki. People in Sweden think it is strange because the film is so Swedish but there is something not Swedish about it. “It’s almost like an Asian film,” someone said to me once, who didn’t know I was Asian. And I thought: This is a good sign.
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