For film buffs and art-house moviegoers, the following two weeks promise a busy but exciting time as the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (台北金馬國際影展, TGHFF) brings the works of cinematic greats such as Jean-Luc Godard, Ken Loach, Jan Svankmajer, and Pedro Almodovar to the island. Even though genre-specific films, such as animation, documentary and women's cinema have been left to the burgeoning special interest film festivals that have mushroomed around the island, TGHFF has cast its net wide.
While the presence of films such as Ken Loach's Cannes-winning The Wind That Shakes the Barley and Almodovar's Volver starring Penelope Cruz guarantee full-house screenings, theme-oriented programs on homosexuality, music and subversive sex target the diverse tastes of younger audiences.
Apart from mainstream programs, hardcore film buffs may find some challenges with the works of less accessible art-house figures such as Matthew Barney, one of this year's directors in focus, and the obscure French filmmaker Philippe Garrel.
An inter-media artist working with film, video installations, photography, sculpture and body art, San Francisco-born Barney took the American art world by storm with his peculiar use of the athletic for aesthetic ends. His filmic works are highlighted in shows at fine arts museums and his distinctive neo-baroque visual style has influenced Hollywood cinema, most notably in films such as The Cell.
The five-part Cremaster Cycle is Barney's best-known work, which contains visually astonishing spectacles that defy easy explanation. The artist' debuted feature-length film, Drawing Restraint 9, is the latest installation of the long-running series of Drawing Restraint projects that involved the athletic artist wearing restraining apparatuses while drawing. In the film, the 39-year-old artist and his real-life partner Bjork indulge in surreal fantasies, such as being two accidental guests on a Japanese whaling ship.
A figure between the Nouvelle Vague and post-Nouvelle Vague generations, Garrel stands out as an archetypal romantic and rebellious poet. A child of the 1968 French student movement, Garrel had a 10-year relationship with the German chanteuse Nico of Velvet Underground fame, which ended in 1979. When the era of love and revolution ended, the director moved into a more narrative cinema, creating a body of autobiographic films haunted by the recurrent themes of lost love and the lost youthful dreams of 1968.
Mostly shot in black and white — as the director believes colors manipulate audiences with their emotional noise — Garrel's meditative works represent cinema in its purest state and have earned him public admiration from the hard-to-please living legend Godard. Garrel's early hermetic vision can be seen in The Inner Scar (1972) starring Nico and himself. In his latest award-winning film, Regular Lovers, the film poet revisits 1968 Paris through his actor son Louise Garrel.
Another special feature in this year's lineup is the New Crowned Hope: Mozart Year. This was originally a film, music and architecture project conceived by US director Peter Sellars, and has become part of Austria's series of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.
The program includes the works of six directors who were invited to make contemporary interpretations on Mozart's art. Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) returns to his homeland Malaysia in search of a new definition of Mozart's spirit of freedom in I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (黑眼圈). Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the fast-rising star from Thailand, again pushes through the limits of narration, portraying a mystical landscape of memory in Syndromes and a Century.
The festival's sister event, the 43th Golden Horse Awards (金馬獎) is slated to hold its star-studded award ceremony on Nov. 25 at the Taipei Arena (台北巨蛋). If the nomination list is anything to go by, commercial flicks appear to be this year's big winners. The musical Perhaps Love (如果愛), the period drama The Banquet (夜宴), horror flicks Silk (詭絲) and Re-cycle (鬼域) all scored multiple nominations.
The best feature film and best director categories are once again dominated by Hong Kong films. Peter Chan's (陳可辛) musical Perhaps Love, Johnnie To's (杜琪峰) gangster flick Exiled (放逐) and Tam Ka Ming's (譚家明) Tokyo International Film Festival winner After This Our Exile (父子), are vying for top honors with local up-and-coming director Su Chao-pin's (蘇照彬) sci-fi horror flick Silk and Chinese director Ning Hao's black comedy Crazy Stone (瘋狂的石頭).
The best leading actor category sees the elimination of veteran actors Chow Yun-fat (周潤發) and Ge You (葛優) from the competition but includes past title-holders Francis Ng (吳鎮宇) and Aaron Kwok (郭富城) who will compete with the gradually maturing local actor Chang Chen (張震) and Hong Kong actor Sam Lee (李璨琛).
PHOTO COURTESY OF TGHFF
As for the leading ladies, past award-winner Lee Sin-je (李心潔) is faced with strong contenders in the form of Siqin Gaowa (斯琴高娃) from China for The Postmodern Life of My Aunt (姨媽的後現代生活) by Hong Kong female director Ann Hui (許鞍華). Zhou Xun (周迅) from Perhaps Love and Carina Lau (劉嘉玲), who was nominated for her housewife role in Curiosity Kills the Cat (好奇心殺死貓) can by no means be written off in the fierce competition in this category.
The 43rd Golden Horse Awards nominations
Best Feature Film
Crazy Stone (瘋狂的石頭)
Exiled (放逐)
Silk (詭絲)
Perhaps Love (如果．愛)
After This Our Exile (父子)
Best Director
Ning Hao (寧浩) for Crazy Stone (瘋狂的石頭)
Johnnie To (杜琪峰) for Exiled (放逐)
Su Chao-pin (蘇照彬) for (Silk 詭絲)
Peter Chan Ho Sun (陳可辛) for Perhaps Love (如果，愛)
Best Leading Actor
Sam Lee (李璨琛) for Dog Bite Dog (狗咬狗)
Francis Ng (吳鎮宇) for Wo Hu (臥虎)
Aaron Kwok (郭富城) for After This Our Exile (父子)
Chang Chen (張震) for The Go Master (吳清源)
Best Leading Actress
Siqin Gaowa (斯琴高娃) for The Postmodern Life of My Aunt (姨媽的後現代生活)
Lee Sinje (李心潔) for Re-cycle (鬼域)
Zhou Xun (周迅) for Perhaps Love (如果，愛)
Carina Lau (劉嘉玲) for Curiosity Kills the Cat (好奇害死貓)
Best Supporting Actor
Chapman To (杜汶澤) for Moonlight in Tokyo (情義我心知)
Wu Zhong-tian (吳中天) for The Touch of Fate
(指間的重量)
Goum Ian Iskandar (吳景滔) for After This Our Exile (父子)
Joseph Chang (張孝全) for Eternal Summer (盛夏光年)
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Chum (覃恩美) for My Mother Is a Belly Dancer (師奶唔易做)
Zhao Wei (趙薇) for The Postmodern Life of My Aunt (姨媽的後現代生活)
Nikki Shie (謝欣穎) for Reflections (愛麗絲的鏡子)
Pearlly Chua (蔡寶珠) for I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (黑眼圈)
Best New Performer
Wu Zhong-tian (吳中天) for The Touch of Fate (指間的重量)
Bryant Chang (張睿家) for Eternal Summer (盛夏光年)
Joseph Chang (張孝全) for Eternal Summer (盛夏光年)
Goum Ian Iskandar (吳景滔) After This Our Exile (父子)
Graphic: Taipei Times
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