(From You Are the Apple of My Eye)
My introduction to Taiwan cinema was in 1995 when I, still in film school, went to the Vancouver International Film Festival to present my “first” feature Flow, essentially a feature compilation of my student shorts made at UCLA. I met directors Yu-Hsun Chen and Chih-yen Yee and watched their respective first features Tropical Fish and The Lonely Hearts’ Club. I also saw Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Good Men Good Women with my newly met friend Rose Kuo who couldn’t stop sobbing next to me. Taiwanese art house cinema was all the rage in the 90s and the average budget for a Taiwanese movie at that time was around USD$300K. Even up until now, the average budget for a Taiwanese movie is about USD$300K with the most recent exception of Doze Niu’s Monga and Giddens Ko’s You Are the Apple of My Eye, both box office smash hits in Taiwan.
With Monga and You Are the Apple of My Eye, Taiwan cinema has hit a new commercial height beyond the festivals after the first wave of art house hits that did well at the international film festivals but not quite well at the box office. This time around, it’s all about the box. Both Monga and Eye hit the jackpot. Even outside of Taiwan, Eye has made over a whooping 60 million HK dollars (close to USD$8 million) in Hong Kong, which was nothing short of a miracle. No one has ever heard of a Taiwan film making so much money in a reasonably small and difficult territory.
Both Monga and Eye were made for a budget I’d say give-or-take about USD$2 million. While Warner Brothers Taiwan backed Monga, Sony Music backed Eye. These two movies share a very similar theme—both personal coming-of-age movies about a few friends growing up together in high school. While Monga is much darker, about a few high school friends navigating the underworld of Taipei, Eye is essentially a coming-of-age movie with a love story that follows the protagonist from high school all the way up toward being a young adult. Eye has captured a nostalgic slice of high school life in 90s’ Asia that no other Asian films have done so successfully. Perhaps that explains why it’s successful beyond Taiwan.
One clear thing is that the producers of both movies have realized that they could not expect to make box office hits or well-made movies under $500K and with minimal coverage. From watching Eye, the director, Giddons Ko, a first timer, has for sure shot every scene with at least two cameras and a lot of coverage. Without making a critique on whether the film is good or not, coverage in the Hollywood way enables the possibility of the filmmakers shaping a more successful film in postproduction. The more choices you have to cut with, the better chance you have in post to shape both the story and performances. While coverage is not a guarantee of box office success, it’s a guarantee of a certain level of filmmaking the Hollywood way—telling a crystal clear narrative that audiences, more or less intelligent, universally can appreciate.
Beyond a run-of-the-mill high school romance, Eye’s success is contributable toward its use of young male nudity (less than frontal), masturbation, and general edgy sexuality in the vein of American sex comedies like Porky’s or American Pie.
As a filmmaker, I am attracted to Monga more because I find the filmmaking more stunning and beautiful. One sequence where the four boys are being chased by gangsters was jawdroppingly filmed and choreographed in one master shot. Monga was less popular internationally most likely because of its specific cultural context of young gangster life in Taiwan, but I do find the movie quite brilliant. While I understand why Eye succeeds beyond Taiwan and snatches such popularity in Hong Kong, I think Monga is more of a filmmaker’s favorite.
(From Tropical Fish)
I’m not saying that the breakout wave of Taiwan festival movies, including the fantastic works of Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-Liang in the 90s is not important. In fact, one of my favorites from that era is Yu-Hsun Chen’s Tropical Fish, which is fun and heartfelt but entertaining. But because of the budget and the filmmaking with mostly locked-off shots and little coverage, the film did not succeed as well as it could. Over the years, Taiwan has also struggled to make commercial pictures to little success. The horror sci-fi picture Silk was a financial and creative disappointment. It is something to note that both Monga and You Are the Apple of My Eye are working. With these two films, Taiwan has truly come of age in terms of commercial filmmaking. Filmmakers are beginning to realize that making a good film and a good film in the Hollywood way (primarily with a decent budget and lots of coverage and design) can work both within and beyond Taiwan.
How about Cape No. 7 ? that was a big hit. anyway, hats off to Giddens Ko, who had zero experience in TV or film. No film school, no youtube, nothing. He was primarily known for his internet writing. people laughed at him when he decided to make “You Are the Apple of My Eye”. a lot of people refused to work with him. He had to hire a lot of inexperienced people, including camera crew who never shot a movie before.
@Jiob, Yes, I forgot to mention Cape No. 7 which was quite a hit in Taiwan but not quite so outside. And personally, I don’t find the filmmaking new… it feels like a very traditional Taiwan art house movie.
And then there are also all the movies made by Ang Lee, who is very much a Hollywood filmmaker.