Country: Taiwan
Year: 1993
Duration: 120'
Ahda is a young Taipei man who is obsessed with learning the ancient Chinese martial art of "vaulting", literally "The Art of Lightness". He spends all his time practicing jumping, with weighted bags of iron powder tied to his ankles. Mr. Mao is an old man who holds court in a Taipei park, passing on tall tales of "Red Lotus Society", a secret society of seven people who had mastered the clandestine art of vaulting. They allegedly came to Taiwan in 1949 after the Communist takeover of China. Three are supposed to be still living in Taiwan. But they are not identifiable. The tales weave through Ahda's life, as he searches through urban Taipei for accomplished teachers to teach him. He meets, and is taken into the worlds of a janitor on a marketplace rooftop, a blind masseur, and finally, a beautiful highpowered businesswoman. Ahda's persistence initiates him into a world that is at the same time mystical and mundane, thus revealing a flux of rich cultural significance.
Biography
film director
Stan Lai
Taiwan's most renowned theatre playwright/director, Stan Lai found international success with his first feature film The Peach Blossom Land (1992). In the years when Taiwan filmmakers Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang were making their mark on the international film scene, Lai was creating a similar phenomenon in the Taiwan theatre, and Hou and Yang would routinely make use of the actors trained at Lai's Performance Workshop in their films. Lai holds a Ph.D. in Dramatic Art from the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught extensively at Taiwan's National Institute of the Arts, where he chaired the Theatre Department for five years
FILMOGRAFIA
The Peach Blossom Land (1992), Feixia Ahda (The Red Lotus Society, 1993-94).
Cast
& Credits
Director and screenplay: Stan Lai.
Director of photography: Christopher Doyle.
Art director: Samuel Wang.
Editor: Chen Bowen.
Music: Fumio Itabashi.
Sound: Du Duzhi.
Cast and characters: Ying Zhaode (Ahda), Chen Wenming (Dan), Na Weixun (Kue!), Li Tongcun (Mao), Lee Lichun (padre di Ahda), Li Bojun (vecchio maestro), Lo Manfei (Miss Sung), Sai Liren (settimo fratello), Shen Xixing, Feng Yigang.
Producer: Wang Yinghsiang, Ding Naichu.
Produzione e vendita all'estero: Long Shong International Co.; Performance Workshop Films, 153 Kangning Street, 3F Hsichih, Taipei, Taiwan, tel. +88626952665, fax +88626952686.
Director of photography: Christopher Doyle.
Art director: Samuel Wang.
Editor: Chen Bowen.
Music: Fumio Itabashi.
Sound: Du Duzhi.
Cast and characters: Ying Zhaode (Ahda), Chen Wenming (Dan), Na Weixun (Kue!), Li Tongcun (Mao), Lee Lichun (padre di Ahda), Li Bojun (vecchio maestro), Lo Manfei (Miss Sung), Sai Liren (settimo fratello), Shen Xixing, Feng Yigang.
Producer: Wang Yinghsiang, Ding Naichu.
Produzione e vendita all'estero: Long Shong International Co.; Performance Workshop Films, 153 Kangning Street, 3F Hsichih, Taipei, Taiwan, tel. +88626952665, fax +88626952686.
