10+10 十加十

Story

I: The Ritual (謝神). Two brothers (Tsai Ming-hsiu, Hsieh Chi-wen) trek up to a hilltop shrine to pay their respects in a special way. II: A Grocery Called Forever (有家小店叫永久). As business is slowly dying at a family roadside shop, the mother and son make a bet on its future. III: Debut (登場). The personal thoughts of Seediq priest Lin Chin-tai, as he sets out to attend the premiere of Warriors of the Rainbow 賽德克・巴萊, in which he stars, at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. IV: Old Man & Me (老人與我). Old Fang (Lai A-jie) goes missing on a walk one day and his fellow villagers hunt for him. V: Bus Odyssey (到站停車). The young driver (Nikki Hsieh) of a country bus is a stickler for the rules, even when a young man tries to board between stops. VI: Destined Eruption (釋放). A young man (Kou Chia-hui) pops up in the hotel room of a woman (Jenny Liao) one night in Taitung. VII: Hippocamp Hair Salon (海馬洗頭). After a traumatic love affair, Liu Chi (Lee Lieh) goes to the salon of a hairdresser (Ko I-cheng) who specialises in "memory washes". VIII: The Dusk of the Gods (諸神的黄昏). A social worker (David Chang) remembers the case of a 20-year-old man on death row. IX: The Orphans (無國籍公民). A disabled girl, An-tai (Chang Fang-yi), and blind man live on the streets of Burma, abandoned by the Chinese Nationalist Army after WW2. X: The Debut (初登場). Taipei, 1968: a 15-year-old singer (Doris Wang), upset after making a mistake during a TV rehearsal, is comforted by an older star (Peggy Tseng) who says she'll be famous throughout Asia one day. XI: Sparkles (1949穿過黑暗的火花). Kinmen island: an elderly woman, Chun, recalls her memories as a girl (Wu Li-yuan) during the fierce Battle of Kuningtou, in Oct 1949, in which Nationalist forces repelled Communist ones. XII: Unwritten Rules (潛規則). A film crew on location try to remove a large representation of the Taiwan flag, so their film can be shown in China. XIII: 100 (100). A 100-year-old man (Cheng Chin-shan) walks every day along a mountain road to collect his post. XIV: Green Island Serenade (小夜曲). Taipei, 1954: people listen in a park as young Chi Lu-hsia (Chien Man-shu) sings Green Island Serenade (綠島夜曲) from the China Broadcasting Studio, and 57 years later she (Chi Lu-hsia) is still singing it. XV: Key (Key). A young woman, Li (Guei Lun-mei), experiences the world as she waits in the foyer of her apartment building. XVI: Reverberation (回音). The uncle (Leon Dai) of a bullied schoolboy pays a visit to the home of the tormentor's parents (Jack Kao, Lu Yi-ching). XVII: The Singing Boy (唱歌男孩). Though severely punished by teachers, a schoolboy (Lee Kuan-yi) still continues to sing, and attracts the admiration of a female classmate (Chiu Chin-chuen). XVIII: Something's Gotta Give (有一好没二好). A young woman (ZaiZai Lin) on her way to a wedding dinner drops into a clothes shop and asks the sales clerk (Era Wang) to help her with a problem. XIX: Lane 256 (256巷14號5樓之1). An engaged couple (Joseph Chang, Angela Chang) discuss their relationship as their washing machine is perilously hoisted up to their new flat. XX: La Belle Epoque (黄金之弦). In an old house in Tongluo town, northern Taiwan, a young woman (Shu Qi) hears the memories of her great-grandmother (Mei Fang).

Review

Though, like all anthology films, 10+10 十加十 is an uneven ride, there's only ever five minutes to wait until the next bus comes along, and the overall balance is much more on the credit than debit side. Most of all, the compilation of 20 shorts is a valuable snapshot of the island's film-makers at a time when the industry has left behind its arthouse ghetto of the '90s and has established a small but vibrant production scene of genuine diversity.

Despite being produced by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 台北金馬影展 and having a title that also conveniently recalls "Double Ten" — the name for Taiwan's National Day on 10 Oct — the result isn't a flag-waving exercise for the island. The 20 writer-directors have essentially ignored the suggested theme of the "uniqueness of Taiwan" and come up with compact, individualistic packages that — especially for anyone looking for a quick introduction to contemporary Taiwan cinema — form a convenient crib. Though some names are unfortunately missing (where are Gavin LIN 林孝謙, Tom LIN 林書宇 or TENG Yung-hsing 鄧勇星? and where, one may ask, is TSAI Ming-liang 蔡明亮?), the list of directors has been quite well balanced, with the more commercial side represented by Kevin CHU 朱延平, veterans by Sylvia CHANG 張艾嘉, WANG Tung 王童, CHEN Kuo-fu 陳國富, WU Nien-jen 吳念真 and HOU Hsiao-hsien 侯孝賢, and new blood like Arvin CHEN 陳駿霖 and HOU Chi-jan 侯季然 in the rich mix. The film is also a fine showcase for cameramen, including talented NYU graduate Jake POLLOCK, who worked on two segments.

More surprisingly, some names don't come up with quite what one may expect. In The Dusk of the Gods, Chang, adapting a work by essayist LÜ Cheng-ta 呂政達 (aka Lü Zheng Da), provides a reflective study of a social worker's memories of a young man facing the death sentence; in The Orphans (the only episode in widescreen) Chu lets loose with some flashy action but caps it with a strong political message that does Taiwan no favours; while CHANG Tso-chi 張作驥, better known for artier stuff, stages some impressive (and violent) military action in Sparkles, set during a famous battle between Nationalists and Communists on Kinmen island in 1949.

Both Sparkles and Orphans desperately need some sort of captioning to make them understandable to non-Chinese audiences, as does CHENG Yu-chieh 鄭有傑's rather subversive sketch, Unwritten Rules, to make the final joke work. At the other end of the scale, Leon DAI 戴立忍's Key and WANG Shau-di 王小棣's Destined Eruption seem like indulgent vignettes-à-clef, Malaysian-born HO Wi Ding 何蔚庭's 100 an exercise in too-easy minimalism, and WEI Te-sheng 魏德聖's Debut a glorified ad for his Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale 賽德克・巴萊. The best exponents of the short-film format, with neat punch-lines, include Wang Tung's sly opening, The Ritual, which gets the film off to a lovely start, and Rendy Hou's Green Island Serenade, which mixes nostalgia and poetry in the simplest and most effective way.

However, the prize for the most perfectly realised segment must go to Chen Kuo-fu's midway The Debut, which, though it needs an end-caption to explain the whole point for most non-Asians, plays like a feature film in miniature, with luscious cinematography by Pollock, spot-on period look, and memorable playing by actresses Peggy TSENG 曾珮瑜 and Doris WANG 王丁筑.