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The Strait Story

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Wikipedia article




'The Strait Story' () is a 2005 Taiwanese film directed by Huang Yu-shan.

Plot summary



The film tells the story of a young but noteworthy Taiwanese sculptor and painter, Huang Ching-cheng.Regarding Ching-cheng Huang, consult for instance: Meizhen Zeng et al., Taiwan mei shu yu shehui mai dong. Kaohsiung (Gaoxiong shili meishuguan / Kaohsiung Modern Art Museum) 2000, 158pp. He has already completed his studies in Tokyo and even had a few successful exhibitions. It is war, he plans to see his parents in Taiwan and then wants to go on to Peking, in order to deepen his knowledge of the 'metier'. But as the artist is returning from Japan with his fiance, a young pianist, both - together with hundreds of others - lose their lives on board the passenger liner Takachiho Maru that is tragically torpedoed by the American submarine in March, 1943, while on its way from Kobe to Keelung (Taiwan).

In flashbacks, we do not only see Huang in his Tokyo studio, or attending an exhibition of his works, or on the steamship mentioned, looking forward to an encounter with his father, mother, and elder brother. We also see Huang as a boy and adolescent, growing up on the island of Penghu, situated in the Taiwan Straits. It is here that we encounter him as a dreaming but also rebellious youth, in love with a girl from a poor family that he could never have married. We also learn about his father, a businessman who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps as a pharmacist and therefore did not support him anymore when Ching-cheng decided to become an artist.

The narration switches between present and past. An important strand of the narration is focused on the restoration of "lost" works created by the artist that were discovered recently - a difficult task that is carefully accomplished by a young, physically handicapped (or ill?) art restorer.

The film is also focused on the young art restorers search for traces of Huang (his grave, for instance), and on her attempt to reconstruct aspects of his biography.

The film is a celebration of regional South Taiwan culture, of the land, its people and their contribution to the common Chinese heritage. Incidentally, Ching-cheng Huang is a relative of the filmmaker Yu-shan Huang.

Cast



* Freddy Lim as Huang Ching-cheng

* Janine Chang as Lee Kuei-hsiang

* Yuki Hsu as Shio-shio

* Jag Huang as Doctor

Cinematic approach



Though not radically innovative, the film cannot be considered ordinary entertainment devoid of aesthetic qualities. On the contrary, it is fairly close to the art film genre. As the Taiwanese critic Shen-chon Lai points out, "The films language that is artfully employed displays great similarities with the stream of consciousness technique of contemporary literature" and relies 'on such artistic devices as 'point of view'." Lai notes both its "realism, for Taiwan's cultural history is fully reflected", and the fact that the reality that is reconstructed "is melted in a poetic atmosphere."Hsien-tsung Lai [= pinyin: Shen-chon Lai], Chaoyue fushi de yishu guanghua [The Glory of Transcendent Art], in: The Liberty Times, Nov. 3, 2005 [print edition]. See also: Shen-chon Lai [=Hsien-tsung Lai], A Glow of Art That Transcends the Floating World. Huang Yu-Shans Film The Strait Story, in: Art in Society , No.12, [http://www.art-in-society.de/AS12/Lai/Lai.Shen.chon.E.html] This article is an English version of the article printed in the Liberty Times. The critic Lingzhen Wang observes that 'The Strait Story', just like Huangs subsequent feature film 'Song of Chatian Mountain', "combine(s) historical materials, including those censored in the past, personal memories, and a distinctive documentary style."Linzhen Wang, Chinese Womans Cinema, in: Yingjin Zhang (ed.), A Companion to Chinese Cinema. Malden (Wiley-Blackwell) 2012, p.341.

References



Further reading



*Kate E. Taylor (ed.), dekalog 4: On East Asian Filmmakers. Brighton, UK (Wallflower Press) 2011

*Yingjin Zhang (ed.), A Companion to Chinese Cinema. Malden (Wiley-Blackwell) 2012


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