Soon seeks spotlight for Sasazawa

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‘Sea’ uplifting, family-friendly film

thnography and entertainment are neatly mixed in “Long Time No Sea”, an uplifting drama set among the indigenous Tao community from Orchid Island in Taiwan. Based on life experiences of first-time feature writer-director Heather Tsui (also known as Tsui Yung-hui), this tale of a newbie teacher from the city who prepares students for a dance competition is sweet without ever getting sticky, and sends strong but never-didactic messages about the need to preserve traditional cultures and languages. Following a successful local release in June, this family-friendly film deserves to attract further festival attention in the wake of its international premiere in the Asian Future competition at Tokyo.

Tsui’s impressive feature is deftly structured to inform audiences outside Taiwan about the challenges facing an indigenous people while also spinning a thoroughly entertaining and accessible “let’s put on a show” yarn. Featuring a cast comprised almost exclusively of non-professionals from the Tao community, “Long Time” has an unforced authenticity that will connect with viewers everywhere.

The young star of the show is Zhong Jia-jin as Manawei, a motherless young boy who lives with his doting grandmother (Feng Ying-li). Like many of his friends, Manawei rarely sees his father (Ou Lu), who left Orchid Island to work in Kaohsiung, a big city on the main island. Zhong is terrific as the youngster whose high spirits mask the sadness of being separated from his dad and the embarrassment of being so poor he’s forced to wear sandals instead of shoes to school.

The sole professional actor here is Shang He-huang, cast most effectively as Chung-hsun, a thirty-something teacher who’s just arrived from the city. Far from having noble ideals or even much interest in Orchid Island and its inhabitants, Chung-hsun is looking to stay just long enough to earn the career-boosting status that comes with accepting such a remote posting.

Things begin to change when the school principal (Zhu Zhi-sheng) offers bonus points for teachers who’ll take charge of organizing a team of students to compete at a national indigenous dance competition in Kaohsiung. Without knowing the first thing about Tao dance or culture, Chung-hsun takes up the challenge.

As he gradually warms to the task, Chung-hsun finds a friend and potential romantic interest in Chin-yi (Zhang Ling), a kind-hearted local radio announcer who joins a community-wide effort to teach the kids about their culture and take pride in their performance. Best of all is Chung-hsun’s bonding with Manawei, whose occasional bad behavior in the classroom is seen in a new light by the teacher once he becomes aware of the lad’s difficult circumstances.

Humor

Tsui’s screenplay balances gentle humor and non-melodramatic heartache wonderfully well en route to a climax on the big stage at Kaohsiung. A surprise visit from Manawei’s dad delivers initial joy, only to end in bitter disappointment that brings home the harsh reality of financially driven family separations. Among many amusing and illuminating scenes is a discussion about appropriate attire. Tao men and boys wear thongs while dancing. Manawei and his pals want none of this until their teacher and respected community leaders speak about the importance of upholding such a tradition. Sensitive photography and the beaming smiles of the lads do the rest. The story’s only real shortcoming is superficial treatment given to girls’ roles in the performance.

Without ever looking like a travelog, Liao Jing-yao’s photography shows the beauty of a place the Tao have called home for 800 years. Especially nice is an underwater sequence in which Manawei plunges into Love River in Kaohsiung and is magically transported to Orchid Island, where he dives joyfully with his loving and happy father. Also of note in the fine technical package is a lovely score by multi award-winning composer Cincin Lee and a sprinkling of traditional Tao songs, the lyrics of which are emotionally powerful and highly informative.

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LOS ANGELES: Saho Sasazawa (1930-2002) could well be the Japanese writer whose work has been most adapted to TV and film. He’s had over 380 production credits in Japan related to his writing and help define the samurai cum western genre that saw its fulfillment in “The Magnificent Seven”, a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai”.

Tokyo-based company, Soon Inc owns the copyright to Sasazawa’s work and its president Satoru Sugaya highlighted its potential at TIFFCOM, on the margins of the Tokyo International Film Festival, this week. “Sasazawa’s work is rich in imagery and extremely suspenseful. He has both modern and historical stories, either of which could easily be adapted to film or role-playing games.” In the past Sugaya has optioned the rights of Sasazawa’s work to pachinko game makers, which use themes for each machine, often from popular fiction.

Sugaya notes: “Since Sasazawa is legendary in Japan I’ve had discussions on optioning his stories for film scripts with major studios like Shochiku. But he’s not that well-known internationally so I’m trying to focus attention on the vibrancy of his writing.” Sugaya suggests that the classic TV show “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” which catapulted Steve McQueen to stardom, exhibits very similar qualities to stories by Sasazawa, and is part of the samurai-western nexus that the writer helped develop.

Sugaya suggests Sasazawa’s stories have a sense of expansive adventure and riding into the unknown that can be reminiscent of John Ford’s films. “In the current era where producers are searching for stories to base content on they would be well served to have a look at Sasazawa’s body of work,” he told Variety. (RTRS)

By Richard Kuipers

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