Lily, distinguished by an array of natural characterizations, offers a new dimension for future Chinese film-making. While not exactly a commercial success, it is a challenging experience for the audience, as it was for the director. More specifically, perhaps, it is a touchstone of performing art/cinematic excellence for Nancy Kwan-chen Hu, one of the film’s leading actresses.
Nancy Hu is a rising starlet, following in the footsteps of Hui-chung Hu, who ascended to stardom in the film Smiling Face about three years ago. Incidentally, both Nancy Hu and Hui-chung Hu are graduates of National Taiwan University (NTU), the ROC’s prestigious institution of higher learning. Hui-chung Hu is a history major; Nancy Hu is a graduate of the department of foreign languages and literature.
Nancy has been a movie fan and dilettante of the arts since her high school days. Her NTU training gives her a comfortable edge in the dazzling competition of staged glamour. During her undergraduate career, she was already preparing herself, though unwittingly, for theatrical performances. Nancy’s debut, in If It Were I, received wide acclaim.
The law enters the story in a conflict between idealism and commercialism. (File photo)
Nancy possesses most of the quality required by a devoted actress to excel in the ruthlessly competitive world of cinematic art. When CMPC arranged an interview, this writer particularly appreciated one such quality – Nancy showed up on time. Across the table, the interviewer began to realize that promptness, charm and beauty are not the only virtues she commands. She demonstrated grace, a composed confidence and maturity. But she retains the refreshing look of a college student. While posing no threat of excessive intellectualizing, she does not lack the agile capacity to grasp ideas and problematic complexities. Such capacity is indispensable to a truly dedicated actress.
There is an irresistible flamboyance in Nancy’s appearance and demeanor. A persistent aspiration for perfection is discernible. Yet she is not an uncompromising careerist. In order to work her way through college, Nancy confided, she gave tutorial classes in mathematics to junior high school students. A tough girl she is.
Nevertheless, how well Nancy will accommodate herself to movie circles remains to be seen. A Lily in the Valley itself displays the often painstaking processes of adjusting to a new social environment. Basically, it concerns the actions and reactions of a young primary school teacher in the aboriginal village of Wanta. Director Soong has utilized the simple story of an inexperienced teacher to depict touching episodes of human and social interaction. He takes the audience hand in hand into the daily life of the aborigines, revealing their simplicity and good nature along with some of the problems of life in their village.
Lily saying goodbye - Reminiscent of “Sound of Music”. (File photo)
Soong knows how to direct his cameramen. The opening scenes present forceful images of natural beauty and serenity. But this is deceptive. Undercurrents flow beneath the surface. Lily begins with Lu Pi-lien’s (Nancy's) arrival at a railway station, where no one has come to meet her. As the story progresses, the audience learns that the teacher is psychologically unprepared for life in the village. Lu Pi-lien arrives at Wanta bearing her baggage and a blurred picture of aboriginal existence. Armed with her college education, she intends to "educate" the aborigines. Ironically, her teaching experience at Wanta village is to be a reverse process of learning, growing and self-realization. The village offers far more than a casual visitor can imagine.
The screenplay, by Wu Nien-chen and Li Yeh, faithfully portrays the life of a typical aboriginal village – any such village in Taiwan. The actual locale reflects, of course, the director’s artistic preferences. Wanta is basically the home village of country folk who have had little contact with the urbanized world. Its elder inhabitants enjoy a tranquil contentment. But in contrast to the senior citizens, the younger generation is eager to enter the world of big cities.
For the simple life, Wanta is a paradise. For those oriented to the excitements of urban civilization, Wanta is… dull. Yet, Wanta is not completely cut off from the outside world. A storekeeper, Ho Wen-chien, constantly introduces elements of city life to Wanta, primarily for his own benefit. Ho introduces video games, fake medicines and a cheap dancing company to Wanta. By also marketing the villagers' produce, he loses no chance to exploit them.
While Ho plays the villain, Lu Pi-lien is the archetypical outsider, welcomed by the village children with disbelief and mischief. Other major characters are Tsai Huai-jen, a devoted village doctor; Shih Hsin-hui, a versatile nun; and Little Fan, a kindly policeman who is approaching retirement. All of them strive to play contributive roles in the village, promoting justice and equanimity. They are all, also, fully aware of the problems of the village: (1) alcoholism, (2) a lack of qualified teachers, (3) the depredations and selfishness of Ho Wen-chien, and (4) a brain drain, The solution: reform through education.
To get on with the story-when Lu Pi-lien first comes to Wanta, she is fooled by Ho Wen-chien's show of sincerity, and receives a bad impression of Dr. Tsai, As time goes on, she begins to get a truer picture of the village. But she is not ready to give up her initial prejudices and opposes Dr. Tsai on many issues. As she witnesses the compassion and concern Dr. Tsai shows the villagers, her attitude changes. In addition, she finds that teaching in this village requires her to abandon an initially coercive approach.
Ho’s scheming results in the villagers' ostracization of Dr. Tsai. When Ho's fraud is discovered, he is arrested. A moving moment arises when Lu Pi-lien is about to leave Wanta. The students present her with flowers, singing "teacher, sukaeda - teacher, good-bye," a rendition reminiscent of the theme song scene in “The Sound of Music.”
Master planner Li Yeh in a pensive moment. (File photo)
Lu Pi-lien becomes a teacher in Taipei, but misses the aboriginal villagers. She has developed an affection for its inhabitants and, of course, for Dr. Tsai. Pi-lien has a decision to make. Will she return to the small village school where she feels the people truly need her? Or will she stay in the city, with the amenities of modern living and easy access to further intellectual pursuit? The promise of urban life is tempting. Lily ends without offering a solution. Director Soong refuses to offer the standard ending and leave the audience awash in grateful tears. But neither does he want to leave his audience without hope.
The movie's melodrama is balanced by a touch of humor and a number or playful notes, At times, Wanta is blessed with laughter, and the story, with the mischief of the primary school students. Laughter and mischievousness, indeed, are depicted as special gifts of the aboriginal children - to be envied by the many TV cultured children of metropolitan Taipei, who are rushed to and from school in antiseptic, shiny automobiles.
Wanta is, really, an interesting cosmos. In any season, A Lily in the Valley would be welcome. Like The Episode of a Small Town, an earlier local film (1979), it seriously and intelligently addresses itself, without overly sermonizing or didactic philosophizing, to the inescapable human issue: coming to terms with stark reality, and, eventually grappling reluctantly with choice, "If there is any message implicit in the film, this is it!" insisted Nancy.
When asked how the "appearance of reality" is defined and executed in cinematographic art, Nancy had the grace to lapse into humble silence for a few moments. “It is mainly a matter of individual interpretation, and feelings - feeling and perceptions and intuition are what make film-making exciting and challenging!" Therein is the difference between the performer and a developing actor!
Nancy is right; Nancy is a rising star with vision and ambition.
What exactly did the film intend to say? Let us go to Li Yeh, one of the film's "master planners." Li and his team did some market surveys and his boss gave him his head. They did not just aim at a commercial hit. Li, himself a novelist, had something to say in the film.
As a biology major, Li contests colleagues’ views that “civilization is syphilization.” Rather, he perceives the civilization of mankind as a progressive force advancing with scientific development. Categorically, Li plants, according to his design, five representative symbolic characters into Lily – a medical doctor, a nun, a policeman, a shopkeeper, a teacher - science, religion, law, commercialization, and education. If science, faith, law/order, economic prosperity are to advance in Wanta village, he says, the solution lies in education.
Through education, the villagers can learn to help themselves intellectually and financially without recourse to outside assistance. Indeed, the future of Wanta is contingent upon educational investment. In this sense, Lu Pi-lien as a teacher, is a savior; she brings light and change to the village. Educational investment in the aboriginal areas, actually, receives great government support. To ensure that the aborigines' voice is frequently heard, their legislative rights are carefully nurtured by the state - to the extent that a certain number of legislative seats, both at provincial and central government levels, is reserved for aboriginal representatives. As a result of educational investment, hypnotic circle dances, ornately embroidered costumes, feather headgear, and tribal carving have become less and less a part of their lives. In place of the traditional aboriginal architecture are government built cement houses - dull objects to the eyes of tourists. Yes, urbanization and commercialization have gradually eroded tribal life and culture in Taiwan. However, to the aborigines, the improvement of their living circumstances is of foremost concern. Everything else has a secondary importance. After all, lives are not lived for the eyes and pleasures of tourists. Of course, for the upgrading of their livelihoods they pay a handsome price. They gain something and lose something. That's part of life! And that is also what Li Yeh and Director Soong want to convey in the film.
It is the film's spirit of being realistic, its humor and feeling that claim the favorable notices of the movie critics. Underlying the film's successful treatment is the sub-story – Pi-lien's coming of age during her year in Wanta. Her conversion from innocence to maturity is apparent.
One of the strengths of the film, as a movie critic has pointed out, is that it avoids, for the most part, a pounding of its message into the audience's heads. A shortcoming: the film should have gone more deeply into the details of the specific tribal customs, architecture, etc. Though there is no vivifying touch of tension, the film is properly structured and edited. It flows smoothly. But some scenes could have been better executed with a montage of suggestive images. Close-ups and facial expressions are in short supply. Color quality can be improved. The English captions are readable. It has a very pleasant theme song. On the whole, it is a pleasing work tailored to the needs of our time.
Director Soong Tsun-shou has suffered from obscurity for several years. For the firs time in a decade, Soong has been able to again demonstrate his sensitive interpretation of plot and characterization. Lily may indeed signal the revival of Soong's creative power.
Soong himself is a master of story-telling. Born in Kiangsu province in 1930, he finished school in Hong Kong in 1950. After odd jobs, he began his career as a screenplay writer, then became an assistant director, and finally director. He is a protégé of Li Han-hsian and King Hu, both once-prominent directors under Shao Brothers, Ltd. (Hong Kong).
Soong's tour de force was At Daybreak (1967) - bureaucracy, corruption and human nature are depicted in revealing detail. Its vibrant dynamic execution has yet to be paralleled in the history of the Chinese movie industry. Soong's other major work is Outside the Window, starring Lin Ching-hsia and Ch'in Han.
Director Soong – Supervising the camera angles. (File photo)
A French movie critic once complimented Soong on his artistic Chinese style. In self-mockery, Soong commented, “The essentials of a good director are talent, craftsmanship, vision and adherence to artistic principle, and I possess none of them." Understatement it is.
Times have changed. The old fashioned training through apprenticeship within the movie industry is not going to work in the years to come. Movie making is a highly specialized, complicated process, involving great investment of manpower and resources. It is often a multinational business. It will require top professionals in such expert areas as acting, directing, photography, music, film editing, lights, costume, acoustic effects, etc.
One Chinese movie industry magnate asserts that ROC film industry success will be directly dependent on these factors: recruiting of professional personnel - technicians, directors, screenplay writers; training of highly committed actors and actresses, planning and marketing research; modern facilities; enterprising management; and greater discipline and innovation. A director has to equip himself for practically all areas of the performing arts, An actress is not just someone who has pretty, hollow cheeks. The change is inevitable. By all means it is comforting, though, to note that the people involved in our movie industry have finally started doing something to improve movie quality.