What you are looking at is Fuhe Theatre. A 40 year old movie theatre which was abandoned around 10 years ago. Also the setting of a movie about a theatre in it's last day of use. Or rather you are looking at it's sign, and to the left you can see the structure where the movie posters used to be put up, with lights shining down on them.
Anyway I'd like to use this a chance to talk about chinese cinema. In Taiwan there are considered three great directors, Ming-Liang Tsai, Hsiao-Hsien Hou, and the one you all probably know Ang Lee. Actually none of them were born in Taiwan, but they all spent a large part of their lives here and made their first movies here.
Taiwanese cinema was highly inspired by French films. As such they have long takes, extended set up shots, and scenes with very little dialogue. Tsai is probably the biggest francophile. He also has one movie filmed in France, and it even has Jean-Pierre Leaud in it (the actor from a few Truffaut movies, including being the kid in The 400 Blows). All his movies star the same leading actor and leading actress. With a few of the movies being about the same characters as well. His films have very little dialogue. One of his films was actually set in this theatre and was about a theatre on it's last day of being open. This flim only has about 27 lines of dialogue in it. The theme for most of his movies is people who desperately want to feel close to somebody else, not so much sexually, but just want to feel a connection with other people, yet they are too scared or fearful to put themselves out there. His most famous film is probably "The Wayward Cloud" in which this theme is told through the backdrop of the pornographic movie industry in Taiwan. But for my personal recommendation, I'd suggest taking a look at "What Time Is It There?" This movie so clearly portrays what I feel is the Taiwanese mentality. It's about two people who briefly meet then go their separate ways, but they continue to be affected by the memory of that one time they met.
Hou, was also greatly influenced by French cinema. He even went on to direct a french movie. He is also the most famous of the three directors. Yes I know you have never heard of him, but you have heard of Ang Lee. And you say "But Ang Lee, has made some huge movies in both Hollywood and Asia, and he and his movies have won oscars!" Yep, but still in Europe and parts of Asia Hsiao-Hsien Hou has not just won multiple awards, but is considered by many well respected critics to be the best movie director EVER, and to have written and directed some of the best movies ever made. While Europeans love him, I don't like his movies nearly as much as they do, and for me, I like his movies the least of the three, however I must admit that he is probably the most talented. The themes of his movies is usually a group of people who are trying to make the most of their lives under the stress and pressure of an outside force. This force can be, political, social, economic, or something else. His movies push social boundaries, but do this in a very reserved way, which definitely takes talent. However the critic in me finds many of his scenes much too long, with the added length and dialogue not adding anything to the characters. In fact I would say that instead of getting me to care more about the characters or understand them more, it just makes me dislike the characters. His most famous film is "A City Of Sadness" about how the 2/28 massacre and the events preceding it and following it, affected all groups living in Taiwan. But for you I'd probably recommend one of the only two of his movies that had a theatrical release in the USA, "Three Times." This movie is three different love stories taking place at three different time periods in Taiwan. The same actor and actress play the couple in each story. The two older stories are are pretty good, the first is good if you know a lot about the beginning of the Nationalist rule of China, while the middle story which takes place in the 60s is my favorite. The one that takes place in 2005, I didn't like at all.
And you all know Ang Lee. I have to say he is my favorite of the three, for three reasons. 1. His very few Taiwanese movies that he made before making Hollywood movies, are all in Mandarin. Which means I can actually practice my Chinese when I watch them. The other two directors' movies are in various Taiwanese and Chinese dialects. 2. I think "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was one of the most important movies ever made as it made many westerners become aware of Chinese cinema and take an interest in it, as well as pave a way for more Chinese movies to be released in the West. 3. One of my favorite movies is "The Ice Storm." I felt this way even long before I came to Taiwan. But now having lived here so long, and understanding Taiwanese cinema, "The Ice Storm" is truly something special. Granted it is based on an American novel, but if you plucked a Taiwanese director and put him in America and told him to make a Taiwanese movie but using and an American family and culture, this is the movie you would get. It's fascinating.
Well that's it for Taiwanese cinema talk. Please join us tomorrow for talk about this specific theatre.
