Vancouver International Film Festival: Movie Review #1
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008I’m watching 8 films in total at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival, and I’ll writing a review of each one. Here is the first:
囧男孩 (Orz Boyz) 2008. Written & Directed by Yang Ya-che.
“Orz Boyz” is a film about Liar #1 and Liar #2, two young boys who like to dream, to imagine, to play, to joke, and to basically do their own thing whenever possible. The cast, crew, characters, and setting are all Taiwanese (as far I understand). The plot progresses more like a series of moral tales and fun adventures than a single epic tale of growth or male rites-of-passage.
The film’s focus is on the way these two boys perform and entertain themselves and their “audience.” Sometimes that audience is us, and other times it is also a group of “alien moviegoers” all packed into a single movie theatre, cleverly animated and inserted into various parts of the film. (There is a story told in the animated sequence which may be hard to follow if you’re not familiar with it or Mandarin and read subtitles slowly). It’s visually expansive, dialogue-heavy, and the sequence moves very quickly. A second viewing may be required to fully appreciate it.
The two boys have one big dream: to go to a fantasy world called “hyper-space”, where no one has to do any homework. They try through various creative means to get there, including a very beautifully filmed sequence involving a series of electric fans all turned on at once…creating a little homemade wind-tunnel. I don’t want to spoil any more of the story or imagery, so I’ll leave the rest as a surprise.
This film is quite visual. I discussed its style afterwards with a photographer who felt it had a “music video” style. I think he was right. At its best, this film has strong and unique imagery which would be considered experimental in a normal feature film, but is more typical in a music video. In his speech after the film, the director admitted that he made this film as a way of “showing what he can do,” since he comes from a largely television-based background. Therefore, it probably won’t be his most meaningful or his most important piece of work. I think it is more like a photo collage of: memories, different people’s stories, improvisation by the child actors, different colours, different emotions, etc.
Watching this film is like eating a piece of candy…its sweetness and sourness will remind you of your youth, though the exact flavor will be more familiar to Taiwanese viewers with similar experiences. The candy is delicately wrapped in a beautiful, shiny wrapper. The outer appearance is better than the flavor. But the candy is fun to eat and makes you smile. Once you finish the candy, there is only the wrapper and a temporary sugary aftertaste. Therefore, enjoy the sweetness while it lasts. Save this film as an after-dinner treat.
-Andrew Zeller
