Taiwan film-maker 蔡明亮 Tsai Ming-liang’s porn musical 天邊一朵雲 – The Wayward Cloud opened un-cut though with an adult rating in Taiwan a couple of weeks ago, pulling a hot weekend total of NT$7 million. The film earlier had won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for outstanding artistic contribution. But who cares, we just want to see the all-singing all-dancing blow-jobs.
“Some people say I seem to enjoy provoking my audience,”Tsai said in his cluttered studio in a suburb of Taipei.
“To me, being provoked is also a reaction. I want them to respond to my movies. Either they are provoked, moved, feel uncomfortable or relieved,”
“I don’t want them to feel just entertained or relaxed like they watch most movies and don’t even remember which one they saw yesterday,”said Tsai, sitting in front of a giant pink poster featuring the film’s controversial oral sex scene.
Arthouse director pushes Taiwan film limits
With sexually explicit scenes featuring full-frontal nudity and oral sex, Tsai Ming-liang knows The Wayward Cloud is pushing the limits of Taiwan’s censors and his audience.
“I thought it would be banned. Part of me wanted it to be banned so the film would become a subject of discussion,”Tsai said in an interview earlier this week.
“I want my works to be discussed,”he added.
Tsai’s new film, about a male porn star torn between a colleague and his girl friend, won a Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution at the Berlin International Film Festival in February.
But the movie sparked controversy at home and gave government censors a headache.
“The society is more open now. Most members of the review committee felt the director’s artistic expression should be respected,”an official with the Government Information Office said.
In Taiwan, movies are not allowed to show sex or nudity unless the scenes can be justified as essential to the plot.
Tsai had insisted he would not release the film in Taiwan if the government cut any of the sexually explicit scenes, but a 15-member review panel finally voted 9 to 6 to leave the film uncut —albeit with an adults only rating.
“Some people say I seem to enjoy provoking my audience,”Tsai said in his cluttered studio in a suburb of Taipei.
“To me, being provoked is also a reaction. I want them to respond to my movies. Either they are provoked, moved, feel uncomfortable or relieved,”
“I don’t want them to feel just entertained or relaxed like they watch most movies and don’t even remember which one they saw yesterday,”said Tsai, sitting in front of a giant pink poster featuring the film’s controversial oral sex scene.
Tsai said The Wayward Cloud, borrowed from a song title of the 1960s, was inspired by growing openness in Taiwan about sex, and explores whether people still believed in love.
“Some people said they would rather watch an porn movie than go to see The Wayward Cloud. Should I be concerned? Should I be angry?”Tsai said with a grin.
Critics say Tsai’s films are too minimalist and lack clear narratives that could otherwise attract a wider audience.
Like his other films, The Wayward Cloud does not have much dialogue and features actor Lee Kang-Sheng, a Tsai stalwart.
The 47-year-old director burst onto the world art-house stage in 1994 with Vive L’amour, which won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The 1996 movie The River won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
But while honoured abroad, Tsai has never been recognised by a Golden Horse Festival, the Chinese cinema’s version of the Oscars.
“People used to be afraid of movies by Tsai Ming-Liang, they said I only made movies to win awards that are aimed at Western audiences. Many people just hate my movies without even seeing any of them,”Tsai said.
“I want to show people the society is diverse, but we choose to give up diversity and we all become the same.
“We don’t know how much we have given up in our lives.”