By Shih Ying-ying Director Chang Guo-fu's debut feature film "Dragon Eye Congee" was screened by the Government Information Office (GIO) July 8 as the first of a series of trimonthly screenings of new Taiwan-made films in a promotional program dubbed the "Premier's Premiere." On the one hand, this moniker reflects the fact that the screenings are being held in the auditorium of the premier's office building, the Executive Yuan. Additionally, it is meant to underline Premier Frank Hsieh's commitment to help rejuvenate Taiwan's film industry. Chang, who was born in 1976, first came to prominence as co-director, along with Chen Da-yu, of the short film "Travel," which won the Golden Horse Award for Best Short Film of 2000. A story about the friendship between two teenage girls, the entire film is dialogue-free requiring the audience to grasp meanings through the characters' facial expressions and changes in natural scenery and music. "Dragon Eye Congee" is based on a short story written in the 1950s by the well-known intellectual and democracy activist Bo Yang. It tells the story of a second-generation Taiwanese American who, since childhood, has repeatedly dreamt about the same woman in the same scenes, complete with a haunting melody and the fragrant smell of rice porridge, or congee, made with dried longan, a fruit known in Chinese as dragon eye. He is totally mystified about the significance of the dream until he comes to Taiwan for the first time on a business trip and stumbles upon an old house and a woman resembling those in his dreams. Eventually, he realizes that the woman was his lover in a previous lifetime in Taiwan. "I was truly touched by the story when Lee Hsing first showed it to me," Chang said. Lee is a veteran Taiwanese director who founded Lee's Production Ltd. and produced Chang's movie. "I saw the underlying emotions that the author was trying to capture, which, in my view, is the sense of alienation in a rapidly modernizing society and the loneliness of being away from one's hometown," Chang added. The problem remained to transform the 10-page short story of half a century ago into a modern-day movie script. "We needed to expand the story in order to make it into a full-fledged 90-minute film, but when I took it to playwrights who might be willing to do the job, many said to me outright that it was too old-fashioned and cliched. I know they are referring to the reincarnation and supernatural aspect of the story, but this was not the aspect I wanted to focus on," Chang said. In his view, movies are made up of a wide variety of elements that can be mixed and matched to achieve different effects, and the plot is just one of these elements. Through dramatizing the male lead's journey of discovery from this life to his previous one, Chang sought to convey that behind the harsh realities of life, there is a love, or a faith in love, that transcends time and space. The twists and turns of the plot are employed only to accentuate that theme. "I also wanted to convey a love for the land we grew up on. I think Taiwan is a beautiful place but we have hardly done justice to its beauty," Chang added, referring to filmmakers. He chose to set the scene in Tainan because Tainan is not only a city of personal significance to him but a place where the traditional and the modern coexist, fitting nicely into the storyline, which spans several decades and seeks to capture eternity. As proven in both "Travel" and "Dragon Eye Congee," despite limited budgets, Chang is able to create a richly textured work by drawing on a keen instinct for mood creation and mastery of special-effect techniques developed through years of directing music videos and TV commercials designed to hold people's attention. His new movie is a demonstration of how subtle manipulations of music and imagery can have a great effect on how audiences perceive the plot and its underlying meaning. "The love story in the male lead's previous life can be seen as a music video trilogy," Chang said. Each part of the trilogy--dating, marriage and funeral--is matched with a song specially composed to reflect its particular mood. Two of the three songs were written by Chang himself. The script, by the way, was written by Chen Chien-wei, his collaborator in several earlier projects, now working on his own screen plays as well. Chang is intent on making films that engage the viewer at a deep emotional level. "Precisely because the subject matter I am dealing with is considered clich?d by some, it is all the more important that the story be told in a way that grips the audience's attention from beginning to end," he explained. The first half of the movie moves at a relatively slow pace to provide a sharp contrast with the latter half, using elements of melodrama and horror in the first half to spark viewers' curiosity. "I want to make movies that audiences can interact with. In the first half, I tried to create an atmosphere of suspense that will keep the audience wondering about what this movie is trying to say," said Chang. The latter half of the film is marked by swift shifts between the male lead's flashbacks and his search for answers to the questions they raise. Chang said that he drew much inspiration from Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's acclaimed film "A City of Sadness," and that his use of flashbacks was especially influenced by the technique of that film's editor, Liao Ching-sung. "I want to make movies that are commercially viable," Chang explained when asked how he made casting decisions. "Our budget was humble, so the luxury of using expensive special effects to lure audiences was out. We had a good story, but we also needed to have stars that appeal to moviegoers." In the leading female role, Chang cast Singapore's Fann Woon-fong, who appeared in the Hollywood movie "Shanghai Knights" opposite Jacky Chan and Owen Wilson. He thought Fann was perfect for the part because of her superb acting and proven box office draw in Southeast Asia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and even the United States. As lead actor, Chang cast Hong Kong-bred Shaun Tam, while Taiwanese actress Yin Hsin plays Tam's long-time friend and story narrator. Like many other Taiwan-made films produced over the past couple of decades, "Dragon Eye Congee" was made possible by a grant from the GIO, in this case US$150,000. According to Chang, the subsidy amounted to nearly half of the movie's budget, and it probably could not have been made without the semi-volunteer help of several acquaintances in post-production work. "This movie doesn't belong to me, but to everyone who's taken part in it," Chang said. He spoke highly of the crew he worked with during shooting and said that their enthusiasm for the movie made his work all the more enjoyable. "I've been studying film and working in the film industry for 15 years, but making this film helped me rediscover the youthful passion I had when I first started out," he remarked. Prior to the screening of "Dragon Eye Congee," the premier announced his hope of investing at least US$630 million of the Executive Yuan's Development Fund over the next five years in Taiwan's film and other creative-content industries. As a sad commentary on how sorely the movie industry needs such help, Chang remarked that "the Taiwanese film industry has suffered from a dearth of resources for so long in all seriousness that we no longer know how to best allocate funds and resources when we do get them." With the movie's official date of release yet to be determined, Chang is not holding his breath. Reportedly, he may soon be serving as director of special effects in an upcoming film to be directed by Chen Yi-wen. In the meantime, he will keep busy shooting music videos and TV commercials and sharing his experience and dreams with aspiring young future directors.
