Ci qing

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.

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.

Jade (Rainie Yang) has a porn web-blog and is remembering her first love after she runs into her at a tattoo parlor. Takeko (Isabella Leong - The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Eye 3) has a tattoo that Jade wants. More importantly, Jade wants Takeko to remember her. Takeko wants to forget because of trauma that occurred when the two of them were together many years previous.

It is not a girl-on-girl story, it is just a love story with two women, about obsession and trauma, with tattoos as the tie. One doesn't have to get into philosophy to understand love and pain. Just sit back and enjoy.

It was an incredibly beautifully shot film with a great score and two great actors that made it worthwhile.

Overall, not a bad movie at all. Visually, it was quite nice and stylish. Despite of having a description as "a lesbian movie" it is pretty safe to watch and not vulgar. Perhaps as a music video or any kind of short movie, it would definitely perform better. But as a movie it is just not very original. Till the end I kept on finding pieces that I have seen in other places and they still did not bring any other meanings. I am not sure whether I was from the targeted age category to watch it. Storyline suggests there is either a prequel or a book to explain, yet none is actually existing. Could be a better one, if split into several movies. After it finished, I could not find anything remarkable. No, not even the soundtrack. This might be a nice thing to watch if you ever considered getting a tattoo...:)

The film struck a chord with me back in 2008, so much so that I reviewed it on my old "Nanchatte" Wordpress Blog back in '08...

Since then my Japanese has become fluent and I have spent some years learning Chinese and tonight watched it one more time, wondering if it would bear repeated viewing after all the changes in my life.

Although, 10 years ago, this film was marked due to the lesbian theme, this film has nothing to do with lesbianism... at all... It makes exactly Zero (no pun intended) statements regarding sexuality and the main characters are totally at ease with their orientations.

No, this is essentially a Cathartic film about trauma and the different ways people deal with it.

One of the leads tries her hardest to remember everything, to hold on to every single sweet moment, few and far between though they were, as if they were her last and most precious possessions. She believes that everything is transient and that existence is only as real as the memories of those involved. Be forgotten and you cease to exist. She surrounds herself with all her positive memories and lives almost in a dream.

The other is the opposite: Stony and cold, she has cut herself off from the pain of her past by forcing herself to forget everything, and plods lifelessly through the present like a rootless tree. For her, only the present has meaning and as soon as something moves into the past, it is left behind. Contradictorily she fills her days and nights with guilt for something she perceived as her fault and as apparent punishment she denies herself any solace that would heal her.

Flashbacks serve to flesh out the pasts and allow us to come to understand why they are the way they are today, one's slow reawakening from a morbid, empty state and another's persistence to never be forgotten.

We learn how guilt can arise from one's actions in times of stress and cause one to blame oneself and how emotional starvation can present itself in a multitude of ways.

As a father in Japan a country which has had more than its fair share of disasters, some of the scenes I found indescribably painful, the scenes where this film depicts loneliness though brief, were some of the most heart wrenching moments I've seen on screen to date and left me in tears for the second time.

As for the acting, the 18 year old Isabella Leong shows remarkable adaptability for this demanding role; She plays a high school pupil, a devoted sister, a substitute mother and a passionate lover with believability and empathy.

Every moment she's on the screen, she captivates and convinces the audience, pulling them into her world.

Rainy manages to pull entirely different heartstrings throughout the film and bares her damaged soul in an extremely convincing fashion.

The one other actress, whom for spoiler reasons I won't mention is really an unsung highlight of the movie... I found myself blubbering like a babe pretty much every single time she was on the screen...

The non-linear storyline flits from present to past in a slightly uneven and disconcerting way. Some scenes appear cut short and hurried, while others appear to linger a little longer than is comfortable. Intentional no doubt, but it does make the rhythm of the film a little difficult to follow.

Despite this slight incoherence and the loss of focus of the jumbled ending, Spider Lilies is without doubt, an intelligent and thought provoking drama. It makes a valiant attempt at uncovering the wide vista of human emotional survival in the face of hardship and succeeds where a lesser film would fail to involve.

p.s. The subtitles on the DVD I rented were OKish but have distinct errors in places.