Spider Lilies

Almost in the same league as Yonfan's rather atrocious Color Blossoms, Spider Lillies drives the point home that you can make cutting edge cinema without the edge, or much in the way of cutting. It's a Taiwanese film, which in this day and age is becoming a novelty at an alarming pace, but more than that tidbit, we can find very little in the way of the noteworthy here.

You should know that ostensibly Spider Lillies is also a lesbian-themed story, but in every aspect this is nothing but a plastic ploy to lure in the easily seduced and gullible. In several ways we have here a repeat of fellow recent Taiwan release Eternal Summer. Then it was gay men getting the shortchange treatment, now we have the same thing with women. Zero Chou presents, for your non-existent edification, a tale likely to titillate at most a fifteen year old. They managed some of the art house stance, but in the end this results in a most inane, simply uninteresting foray.

The Hong Kong angle comes in the form of Isabella Leung (Bug Me Not, Isabella, Diary), here sporting her most butch look yet. Although somewhat likable in her previous jobs, Isabella in Spider Lillies is listless and lacking in most departments. Either her heart wasn't into it or the whole lesbian drama pitch didn't quite appeal to her sensibilities.

She does a Taipei tattoo artist who's shy, reclusive and in charge of a mentally challenged younger brother, played by John Shen, who thankfully grants the movie its only thespian-related redeeming feature. Isabella's character, oddly named Takeko but supposedly hailing from Hong Kong, soon hooks up with disaffected youth Jade (Rainie Yang from fondly-recalled Meteor Garden). The latter lives with her grandmother and has a whole list of grievances due to being left behind by her parents and life in general. Sure, the grandmother component works well and is touching, but otherwise Jade as a protagonist is just as unmoving as her counterpart Takeko.

The two women share a past and lots of inadequately covered angst, with Jade working as a webcam girl while Takeko keeps her father's legacy alive with a unique tattoo of a spider lilly emblazoned on her arm. Jade also wants to acquire this very design, which leads to Takeko exploring internal feelings of the issue via flashbacks and rather minimal discourse with the spunky Jade.

Well, if there's little discourse to write the homebase about, is at least the intercourse memorable? In a word, no. They kiss and feign doing the nasty close to the end, but just as Eternal Summer reminded us not long ago, there's a gulf measured in lightyears between showing sexual content and making ticket buyers think they're about to see sexual content.

This cynical expectation-building seals Spider Lillies' fate. With a weak story, ho-hum acting and an overall dearth of relics to take away from the theater with you, this one kind of makes Color Blossoms look good, come to think of it. At least there we got a bit of Teresa Cheung's mammaries. No, Spider Lillies is no AV masterpiece and should be stricken from the playlist of even the most mundane and timid GLB movie festival.

Amazingly for a pseudo-indie release, not even the soundtrack and cinematography produce moments of inspiration. That's just as well, since it makes passing on Spider Lillies much easier. Believe you us, avoid it and you won't be missing out on anything good.

Rating: * *

I am never a big fan of Taiwan movie production as opposed to Korean, Hongkong or even China. Strong acting quality is hardly found in them as clearly shown in this film. I don't consider myself as hard-to-please audience as I am, in fact, a fan of indie movies. However this movie shows weak plot and slow pace. I found myself lost in the middle as to where the plot is going. The acting certainly does not make it better. Rainie's acting is sub par as she 'over-act', trying to be perky and cute. Although I have to admit she is a pleasure to look at. Isabella Leong on the other hand plays a more suitable role as a confused, sad, regretful, extremely reserved character. Overall I find this movie is a disappointment.

It's hard to summarize this movie without giving anything away. I will however praise the actors and the production team for doing an amazing job! The movie's soundtrack is one of very few on my ipod that I can listen to daily, after watching the movie the first time it's really worth it just to go back and re-watch it, focusing on the scenes with the backing tracks. They really add amazing atmosphere (and meaning to a small few scenes in particular!) Rainie is amazing as Jade, especially for those that are familiar with her music and drama roles. As soon as the music rolls, the intro titles come up and the viewers see rainie for that first time as Jade, you'll realise you're in for a real treat! Some parts of the movie, typical of foreign movies (if you're a frequent viewer) leave you sitting there thinking, 'what...?' but tie in with the script towards the end, if just barely.

One thing that I really liked, which others may not, is that it is definitely original, unpredictable, and the relationship between the main characters has you glued to the screen in anticipation. Definitely one of my favourite movies that is watched over and over and over.....

A spider lily is a flower that is said to line along the pathway to Hell. It contains poison which will cause one to lose our memory. Memories are central to the story, as the characters involved are questioned as to whether their memories are faulty, and if one can choose to repress them in the attempt to forget, be they happier times, or times of woe.

Jade (Rainie Yang) is an Internet web-cam girl, living with her grandma, and making a living out of smut, enticing men to trade money for moments of online peek-a-boo pleasure. She has a love since 9 years of age, and it is the relationship with Takeko (Isabella Leong), a tattooist, that forms the fulcrum of the story. Takeko herself bears a strong spider lily tattoo on her left arm, and it is something that Jade wants for herself, trying to rekindle and capture memories of her lost love, now found again.

There had been a recent fad about tattoos, nevermind the negative connotations once associated with this permanent body art. Perhaps this movie will change opinions about tattoos, as it opens your mind to specifics as to the reason behind each design, and the rationale that each person probably had when making their choices on a particular design. And as a plot device, it was a hand in glove, a tattoo's powerful symbolism of hiding real intentions or emotions behind, or to feed off its perceived energy and possessing the design's qualities.

Spider Lilies has fine editing which serves the movie extremely well in engaging the audience with the characters' past. In fact, the rich back stories created for the characters make the story very compelling to watch. If there is a chink in the armour, then it's the characterization of Takeko's brother Ching (Shen Jian-hung), who is a bit slow in mental intelligence, and spends a lot of screen time pouting for his sister's attention, which totally messes up her social life, out of love and obligation to provide the only family care for him.

The fear and pain of being forgotten in a modern society might resonate with many, and anyone who has spent enough time on the internet, will know that its anonymity can often lead to misunderstandings. That subplot perhaps added a touch of lightness coupled with a tinge of sadness and irony. As most youths today turn to the net as an outlet for expression, most will be able to identify with this portion of the story arc.

I'm quite unsure if this movie will be able to make it to Singapore, given its more obvious subject material that the authorities will probably frown upon. But at its core, it's a tale of change and to have courage to live the life you want to lead, interwoven with a tale of love. If Saving Face can make it to our shores, I hope Spider Lilies will too.

A beautiful, yet unfulfilled romance… It seems that Taiwanese cinema is finally re-establishing in a manner of art house flicks. With Silk, Eternal Summer and now Spider Lilies, there is no question of doubt that Taiwanese directors are wonderful talents. While Spider Lilies seem rather commercial on the cover of the artwork, with the cute-eyed Raine Yang and the almost unrecognisable Isabella Leong, there is little questioning that it attracted a lot of a certain gender's attention. Full credit must be given to Isabella, who has now taken a path to a career stepwise an inch closer to Best Actress glory, with 2005's Isabella and now this. With that being said, Spider Lilies is certainly a beautiful film to watch and the constant cuteness of Raine is always going to add further viewing points, but the film ultimately remains slightly lacking and leaving the audience rather unfulfilled.

The movie goes like this: Rainie Yang plays cute web cam girl Jade, who wants to get a tattoo to attract her online clients. She visits the tattoo parlor run by Takeko (Isabella Leong), and immediately remembers Takeko to be her childhood crush. Jade sees a stunningly beautiful spider lily pattern on Takeko's wall. She pleads Takeko to tattoo that on her body as "a mark of love", without knowing how special this poisonous flower means to Takeko. Takeko pretends to have forgotten Jade, but there are actually traumatic experiences that Takeko can never forget...

Director Zero is no stranger to queer movies and apparently won the Taiwanese Best Director Award for some film called Splendid Float. Here, Zero seamlessly plays the film like a normal film and making the lesbian scenes all the more natural without a tick of queerness. Perhaps it is due to the pretty face of Raine who performs well enough to be acclaimed as an underrated performance. However, the real star of the show is really Isabella. Perhaps it is due to her make up or whatever; Isabella is acted like an accomplished actress beaming with confidence. Neo is daring to say that Isabella is an outside chance to be the next Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk. At times, Neo felt as though he is watching someone else, a real TB (tomboy) and now that's a compliment.

Still, director Zero struggles to create something more, something deeper and something more relevant. It is a shame that the built up and structure seems so promising and along with the photogenic faces, one can only wish Zero should have done more. When the film reaches its conclusion, it fails to answers most of the questions that it initially raised, which only further hampers the film.

Needless to say, the film is beautiful filmed and the lighting and use of colours are amazingly beautiful to endure. However, Spider Lilies come up rather short of its lofty ambitions and the result is an unfulfilled movie and leaving the audience wanting a lot more. Aside from these short comings, it is almost impossible to resist the moment when Raine kisses Isabella and their steamy hot sequence. Without being bias from a male perspective, the film does attempt to say something about memories. Perhaps it is true that it is human nature to remember the moments and people that they like and choose to forget moments that they do not want to remember. While, Neo can relate to the aforementioned line, the film fails to capitalize on any real issue and once again comes up falling short. Then again, any of that is unlike to deter the fans of the ultra cute – Raine Yang…

I rate it 7.5/10

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