Ci qing

The Spider Lilies has a deep content. It talks about how much people can remember the past and continue to pursue it. Leong is trapped in what happened in the past whereas Yeung is also trapped by her own past. The fate brought these 2 together and helped each other to build their future together from the past they shared. The story is strong but the acting is kind of weak. Not much chemistry between these two. There is not much going on when they get intimate with each other. It is not convincing the two share the same passion. I guess that is the major drawback in the film. It was sweet and bitter when the film showed their past. There is actually more emotion involved and more convincing with their past. Overall, it is a nice movie to watch.

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

• www.thehkneo.com

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.

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.