台灣：國片回來了！--不只是海角七號！
出自Taipedia
This summer, Taiwan original cinema is not just coming back to life, but also shinning like the Sun.
No matter how strongly the Typhoon hits Taiwan, movie theaters are witnessing hundreds if not thousands of people waiting in line just for "Cape No.7". This movie just hits the blockbuster for 2 month, from poorly review to over 80 millions sales in box office. This original Taiwan movie suddenly becomes "National Activity" which revitalizes Taiwaneses who were once trapped in the poor performance in Olympics and ever lasting political dust.
A productive movie reviewer Ryan(zh) uses this movie to comment on the matter of highly-attended ex-President' overseas bank account. He cannot help but wonder how great it would be if he didn't donate any money to our ex-President but to the director of Cape NO.7. He also says that this movie does not only stand firm on practicing local culture, the truely honest and non-exploitative attitude shown in portraying local root figures is also connected with the early products by internationally famous director, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, which deserves to be positively appreciated.
關於侯孝賢公開美言《海角七號》，表示「太好看了，我等台灣出現這樣的電影，已經等很久了！」我想這絕非僅只是單純禮貌性的場面話。正如他當年走出三廳電影的刻板公式，以超越類型片的細微敏感，活潑地捕捉當代台灣城鄉生活，為「全球情感，在地特色」的商業電影做了最精彩的示範，如今相隔四分之一個世紀，小魏導演再度踏上這條軌道，以台幣五千萬打造既新穎又懷舊的《海角七號》，怎能不叫人興奮？
I don't think Director Hou's comment on Cape No.7 is just a complement. He publicly praises Cape No.7 and says "it's amazing, i have waited for such a good film in Taiwan for long!" As he walked away from the stereotype of old school romantic melodrama in 1970s and grasped elaborate and vivid contemporary Taiwan rural life with finest sensitivity far beyond any genre of any film, the way in which is the best example for 'global feelings with local features' business films. It makes audiences thrilled that a quarter of century later, director Wei plays the role as Hou did then. He brilliantly produces the both vintage and creative film Cape No.7. How can I not get excited?!
Ryan further says :
在這痛徹心肺的日子裡，《海角七號》讓我明白，「愛台灣」三個字其實可以實踐得如此真實。
During all these heart-breaking days, Cape No.7 lets me clearly understand one thing - this film truely practices what 'I love Taiwan' is.
Taiwan original cinema has long been under great depression, therefore, 'supporting Taiwan original cinema' also has been sloganized as a patriotic activity. Although Taiwan original films have won awards and reputations in significant and notable film festivals, they are still caviar to the general and turn out to be box-office poisons in local cinema market. In the long run, film companies, distributors and cinemas lose their interests in investing and showing Taiwan original films. The Wall（牆之魘）was out earlier this year, but it faced an embarrassing difficulty: no cinema wants to show it, as annpo puts it(zh):
因為這個「二二八的背景」讓許多電影院不願意上映這部電影（但我想國片本來就很毒藥XD）
due to its story setting related to the 228 incident, many cinemas were reluctant to show The Wall. （However, I thought Taiwan original cinema has been box-office poisons for ages XD ）
Cape No.7 has something different other than what audiences generally think about Taiwan original cinema. They think these films are caviar to the general. Therefore, Taiwan audiences have lost their confidence in Taiwan original cinema for a long time. They regard seeing Taiwan original cinema as charity. Cape No.7 is a good story teller, telling stories with local consciousness currently cultivating in Taiwan. Further, its reputation is built by word of mouth on Internet. Audiences go to see the film not only for doing something which means "I love Taiwan' but for experiencing the love for Taiwan. Cape No.7's success in box-office makes many audiences feel excited. Yang Xiao Guai says:
終於，等到國片迷到眾生的這一刻。這種心情，還真像《海角》裡那個「要放火把恆春燒了、召回所有年輕人回鄉，重新打造一個自己的恆春」的鎮代；我想這是候孝賢說的：「等這部片子等了十年」的意思，在極端高傲(如蔡明亮)和極端白爛(如吳宗憲)的電影，畫分出小眾和微眾的國片巿場之後，終於出現了黃金交叉點，達到絕大多數台灣人的情感和價值觀的邊際曲線，喚回了這十年來被排除及出走的國片觀眾。
Finally, I have waited for this moment for so long when everyone has been fascinated by Taiwan original cinema. I can feel what the councilor in Cape No.7 feels when he says " I wanna burn down the whole Hengchun and then call all young Hengchuners to come back to rebuild our own Hengchun". This is also what director Hou means "I have been waiting for this film for ten years". The Taiwan original film market has been divided by two parallel lines: one is arrogant (e.g.Tsai Ming-liang ) and the other one is naughty (e.g. Jacky Wu). The two lines also represent segments of Taiwan original cinema market: a minor group and a small group audiences. Cape No.7 is at the crossover point between feelings and values of most Taiwanese and it recalls audiences who have been excluded from the market segments.
Because Cape No.7 is so successful in box-office, many people started to discuss marketing for Taiwan original cinema or to analyze the success of this film. As Tzara mentions:
如果說《海角七號》的狂賣也來自於「普羅大眾的口碑」，那《海角七號》另一個重大的影響力就是成功拉抬普羅觀眾對於國片觀感。而這裡只得「普羅觀眾」，正是那些願意「不作任何功課」，光看到片名、廣告、電影海報、電影預告就願意進去看的「大眾」；是那些過往認為「看國片浪費錢」、「看國片一點都不能拿出來說嘴，不能獲得同儕認同」的大眾。而《海角七號》得以成功攻進這塊過往難以攻佔的票房人口，才是真正賣座的關鍵。
If Cape No.7's success is because of mass word of mouth, changing mass audiences' view of Taiwan original films is another success it achieved. Mass audiences I mention here are those who are attracted by film's name, advertising, poster and trailer voluntarily and then go to cinemas to see a Taiwan original film. These mass audiences are also those who thought 'watching Taiwan original films is a waste of money', 'watching Taiwan original films cannot become a subject to talk about with friends' and 'watching Taiwan original films is not something that friends would identify with'. The key point that makes No.7 so successful in box-office is that it successfully breaks those stereotypical thoughts in mass audiences' heads.
國片觀眾＋第一波普羅大眾在網路討論的熱度(尤其是PTT)，MSN暱稱的串聯，成功吸引第二波普羅大眾的興趣，甚至形成「非看不可」，「大家都在看」的一窩瘋現象（很正面的）。
Existing Taiwan original cinema audiences plus the heat of online discussions among the first wave mass audiences (particularly on PTT and msn nicknames ) trigger interest of the second wave mass audiences. This also leads to positive bandwagon phenomenons- 'must see the film' and 'everyone's seeing the film '.
The first film successfully attracting audiences by word of mouth marketing this year is Winds of September （九降風）. It earned 3 million NTDs at box-office. (Along with the current Taiwan original cinema trend, "Winds of September" will be shortly on cinema again .) Earlier last year, Island Etude （練習曲）was a suceess in box-office by internet word of month marketing, which earned 9 million NTDs. To build reputations for the film, Chen Huai-en , the director, disregarded costs and publicly showed the film for free around Taiwan. He said he wants cinemas to be not just a place for the young generation, but for families also. As annpo writes in her article:
陳懷恩苦笑地說，以台灣現在的國片環境，這些心血自然無法以獲利的方式回收，但他拍這樣的電影，原本就不奢望能夠賺錢，而是希望能讓很多人都有機會來看這部電影，台灣各地的人都看得到，全家人一起看…，讓大家感受一下台灣的美好，學習從不同的方位視角來看台灣，這塊我們的土地。
Director Chen smiles sadly and says: my painstaking efforts in this film cannot be expected to pay back by earnings at box-office. He, however, has never anticipated any hopes to make a profit from the film. He wants audiences everywhere in Taiwan to be able to see the film, coming to enjoy the film together with their families. What he expects more is to let everyone experience the beauty of Taiwan and learn to see it from various perspectives.
Cape No.7 achieves the goal Island Etude expected to achieve last year . Its audiences cover wider age-levels. The film intends to describe local flavors, features of different ethical groups, lovely common people through touching elements of dreams and love. woosean, who is good at writing film reviews, says:
我對魏德聖這個人的佩服，以及本片散發出的、屬於台灣電影的潛力。雖然我相信追求夢想不是賭博，但我欣賞魏德聖這種義無反顧的氣魄，而本片雖然離完美很遠，但本片確實展現了近期台灣電影少有的潛力，這潛力橫跨商業性與在地元素的利用，以致於直指人心的單純感動，再再說明了，有好的故事、好的團隊與好的管理技巧，台灣電影也能揚眉吐氣。
I admire Director Wei, and feel the potential for Taiwan original cinema from his film. I believe making dream come true is not a gamble, but I really admire his guts making all efforts to pursue his dreams without any regrets. Although this film is far from perfect, it still expresses potential which is rarely found in recent Taiwan original films. The potential is from across business and well-using local elements in the way which directly makes audiences moved. All of these just shows that a good story with a good production crew team and management could make Taiwan original cinema proud again.
誰說我們沒有故事？只要願意想、願意說，故事真的隨處都是。
Who says we have no stories to tell? Stories are everywhere if you are willing to think and tell.
Many audiences are touched by the love story(zh) in the film. However, more audiences sense rationales delivered by the film. These rationales include Taiwan identity issues(zh), local changes and stories behind these changes(zh), and folk cultures(zh). BOT issues of Taiwan's natural scenes and mountain forests draw attention to audiences. As poiesis says(zh):
山上也要BOT，海邊也要BOT，什麼都被BOT。 為什麼這麼一片美麗的海，被飯店圍起來，我們民眾都沒辦法看到？ 只能讓住在這飯店的外地人看？ ──電影《海角七號》
BOT in mountain natural forests, BOT in beaches...We are being BOTed.
Why is the beautiful beach surrounded with barriers by the hotel owner? Why as local residents, we cannot enjoy the beach?
Why is it that the beach can only be seen by tourists?
quoted from film "Cape No.7"
正當《海角七號》的那段台詞大概已是流傳街頭巷尾的耳熟能詳，搶救蕃仔澳及杉原海岸的雙灣行動，也同時開始了。沒人可以說得清楚，是公民社會團體挪借了《海角七號》的大眾支持？抑或，這只是因為《海角七號》表達出了「非台北觀點」共同感受的集體憤怒？
While these dialogs are so well-known after Cape No.7's successful in box-office, campaigns for saving Fan-Zai Bay（蕃仔澳） and Shan-Yuan coast （杉原海岸） have just started. No one is clear to say whether citizen action groups borrow people's support for "Cape No.7" or "Cape No.7" expresses collective anger other than a Taipei perspective often heard from mainstream media.
Munch directly points out that the goal which the film tries to achieve is to implicitly criticize local reality. He pays tribute to the director's ambition to do so in the film:
在電影裡，不會只是消費鄉土風味，現實的鄉土反思都在，懶惰的郵差，衝動的警察，甚至談及地方發展的困境，讓人看明星，也能看見土地，特別是借了夏都旅館的場地，讓鎮代痛罵外來者佔據沙灘，恆春人不能享受，罵的正是佔據大灣沙灘的夏都，這種反省與膽識，看了讓人過癮，借你地還罵你，夠棒的魏德聖導演。
"Cape No.7" is not just simply using local flavor, but reconsiders local reality : lazy postmen, reckless polices and even talking about local development and its difficulties. While watching the film, audiences see not only singers turning to film stars but also local and related issues. A particular scene which setting borrows from the Château Beach Resort in Kenting is making to be impressed. In this scene, local councilors harshly criticize the beach has been occupied by certain people coming from outside Kenting and running a hotel here, but local residents are blocked from entering by barriers. In fact, this implies the Château Beach Resort has long been occupied the public beach for running their business. How dare the Director Wei De-Shen doing so: criticizing the owner who lends the place to you for filming?! Good Job!
"Cape No.7"'s success in box-office means a lot to Taiwan original cinema . Audiences are getting to know a great diversity of Taiwan local stories and spectacular Taiwanese original cinema through popular film language. The director's messages are delivered and being understood while audiences are making laugh at and being moved by the film. Following the current trend of Taiwan original cinema, attention has been paid to "Orz Boys" （囧男孩） which is going to be in cinema shortly after it. The story of "Orz Boys" is talking about single-parent boys' dreams and imagination of life. Achieving box-office success in a similar way as "Cape No.7", Orz Boys touches audiences' hearts by its film language and essences that make audiences cry and laugh.
For Taiwan original cinema, this is considered a year of renaissance, reviving in box-office and a variety of film genres. These films represent creativity and diversity of Taiwan original cinema, including "God Man Dog"（流浪神狗人）, Butterfly （蝴蝶）and The Wall（牆之魘） based on historical and cultural issues, Gay and Lesbian films Candy Rain (花吃了那女孩）and Drifting Flowers（漂浪青春）, YA films Winds of September （九降風）and Orz Boys, and even a semi-documentary what on earth have i done wrong?!（情非得已之生存之道）. Moreover, most directors and actors of above-mentioned films are rookies, who bring in a fresh look to Taiwan original cinema.
台片發春 Taiwan Den Young