A New Film Director-Taiwanese American
Thursday, 15. January 2009, 03:28:47
A friend of mine lent me a short film "Mei" directed by Arvin Chen in 2006. Mei means beautiful in Mandarin but is a young Taiwanese lady's name and a name of a noodle stand in this film. I had not heard Arvin Chen until Mei was introduced to me. Arvin Chen seems to have a pretty unique way to capture Taiwan even though he grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. I like the atmosphere of Taiwanese night streets he presented in Mei. It is so real and makes me homesick. As Arvin Chen said in his interview below, most of Taiwanese(including me) love night streets but seldom consider them romantic. "Mei" gives those night streets different kind of feels with a common family struggle-young people wanting to go aboard.
(Screen Shot from "Mei") It is very true that many young Taiwanese eager to leave the island and experience life oversea. Arvin Chen subtly bridged the romantic affection and family love at a small crowded noodle stand. I found it interesting that there are three different western couples appearing successively in the film to emphasize Mei-the female protagonist's English ability. I am very glad to watch Arvin Chen's film and know that he is now making a feature film "First Page Taipei" supervised by German director Wim Wenders. It is so exciting to know there is a young "American" director making films about Taiwan. I cannot wait for the film to be released.
(Screen Shot from "Mei")
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