A long-term production team member for the doyen of Taiwanese cinema Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), cinematographer Yao Hung-i's (姚宏易) debut feature Reflections (愛麗絲的鏡子) mirrors Hou's attempt to capture the anomic life of the youth and turns in a visually accomplished drama on a lesbian affair in contemporary Taipei.
The film begins with a lesbian love affair between Jing, an underground rock singer and Mi (played by Nikki Shie who won the best supporting actress award for the role at the Golden Horse Awards last year). The young couple make a pact that their relationship will end if either one of them falls in love with a guy. Tensions mount as Mi's old acquaintance Xiao Hao enters the picture and Mi becomes convinced the guy is a threat, as he fits the description of Mr. Right as described by a fortuneteller.
Things get more dismal for Jing when her mother leaves her for a new guy. Drifting into a maelstrom of jealousy and insecurity, Jing makes an unanticipated move that drives the trio into an emotional tumult.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SINO MOVIE
Written, directed and photographed by Yao and produced by Hou, the film is a visually opulent piece with its elaborate compositions, moody lighting, meticulous art direction and color-saturated scenes. The washed-out, melancholic hue of the outdoor daytime shots contrasts with the schizophrenic tints of the indoor spaces, in which the bluish green and yellowish red and purple yields a ghostly cosmos. Expressionless faces and figures are harshly defined by light and shadow. The film creates a grotesquely enchanting world deprived of visible movements and evokes a sense of stillness floating on a turbulent undercurrent.
Based on the real-life story of actress and photographer Oy Gin, who used to publish a frank blog about her bisexual affairs and eccentricities — Oy is also the inspiration behind segment three of Hou's Three Times (最好的時光, 2005) — the film is more about the aimlessness of youth than homosexuality. The three protagonists are archetype descending into the realm of depression and schizophrenia: Xiao Hao falls into a coma-like sleep after taking his antidepressant pills and Jing is seen in the confinement of a mental home-like hallway with no way out.
The film cleverly designs claustrophobic spaces where lone characters in long takes are framed by their mirror reflections and crowed in with inanimate objects — an existential void.
Clearly influenced by Hou's distinctive style and aesthetics, Reflections has an affinity for formalism that is rich in symbolism, but this is stretched to exhaustion as the film degenerates into delirious quotations from the works of Yao's mentor. Imagery, sound and atmosphere take precedence over narrative cohesion. Moreover, the characters' state of mind are conveyed through the polished cinematography rather than substantial acting.
Garnering the Young Directors Award at the Nantes Three Continents Festival and Best Cinematography at the Argentina International Film Festival, the film presents a convincing story about youths dealing with estrangement and their ambiguous attitudes toward love and lust.
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