Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Frameline 2007 - Spider Lilies (刺青)
After the success of "Eternal Summer (盛夏光年)", Taiwan produces another queer subject film "Spider Lilies (刺青)" (Taiwan 2007, 94 min., shown at Frameline 31). It won the Teddy Award (Gay and Lesbian Award of the Berlin International Film Festival) last February.
"Spider Lilies (刺青)" tells a story about awakening old memories and love. Two main characters are seen in this film's posters everywhere. Jade, a 19 years old cheerful web cam girl, is trying to find her lost love when she was 9 years old. Takeko, reserved quiet tattoo artist has a spider lily tattoo on her left arm, which is also what Jade wants. However, Jade is not alone being obsessed with this spider lily tattoo. Takeko's brother is traumatized by the image of spider lilies after an earthquake, but that subplot never takes off the ground. I know I am seeing a troubling film when those not very interesting subplots can get more attention from me than the main story. Although Jade's character almost makes me believe that she was indeed in love when she was 9 years old (really?), overall this film is not impressive. It needs more development in these character's emotional transitions, and clean up all the unnecessary subplots. I am not inked myself, and I have lost love and memories as well. After the movie, I still don't think I want a tattoo on my body, it just looks really painful. Besides, I just don't get why the "spider lily" is so significant to these characters in the film except it brings back old memories. Maybe I should get a tattoo to remember what happened in the film...
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Labels: Frameline31
