"It's too early to start coining the term 'T-Horror,' but Taiwanese scarefest The Heirloom could kick-start a whole new subdivision of Asian psychodramas along with its established Japanese and South Korean cousins," wrote Derek Elley in Variety
last fall. Jonathan Marlow talks with young director Leste Chen (he was born in 1981) about his groundbreaking feature and his admiration for Kim Ji-woon and Iwai Shunji.
How has your earlier work directing music videos helped in directing your first feature-length film, Uninhibited, and your "featurette," Fade Away?
It was a learning experience and helped to prepare me for a feature film's scale and procedure. However, music videos are more free form. I learned from them that imagery can be used not to tell just a story but sometimes just to convey a mood.
Did you collaborate with Dorian Li on the script for Zhaibian/The Heirloom or was it delivered to you in its complete form?
We discussed the story all the time, [but] he was the one who did the writing. It was a collaborative process all the way.
What made you decide on the "old dark house" genre for this project? What special interest does mass suicide have for subject matter? Admittedly, a dangling noose is a fairly terrifying image...
The image of a "haunted house" is common in horror films of all nationalities, but the word "house" in Chinese has several meanings. It also means "home" and "family," not just the English word "house." And because the house represents the family, the haunted house is a massive trap for the young generation.
As for mass suicide... for me, mass suicide is unnatural. Only something beyond logic, something unknown can make a group of people kill themselves at the same time. Mass suicide is more horrifying than suicide, not just because of the amount of deaths, but because it represents some power more horrifying and inexplicable than death.
What importance does the placement of the camera have for horror, as far as what can or cannot be seen by the audience? To what degree are you able to increase the tension in a film by simple (or even complicated) movements of the camera?
The camera is the most important thing, because you use the camera to choose what to let people see and what not to see. In the horror film genre, it is especially effective, because most of the enjoyment of watching horror comes from not being able to see. In
The Heirloom, I asked the cinematographer to keep the camera movements slow, and almost floating at all times, like it's always floating inside the house, and it evokes a feeling of something not-quite-human. This, I think, adds to the tension of the film.
To what extent did the relatively unstable film industry in Taiwan contribute to your ability to get this film made?
I am very lucky to make this film and, partly, I have to thank the Taiwan film industry for being so dead. Because it's so dead, there are no established filmmakers, so film companies can take a chance with a new filmmaker like me. If I were born in the US or Hong Kong, I know it would've been very difficult for me to make my first film at my age. So I think I am very lucky. But at the same time, the Taiwan film industry doesn't give you more than one chance. So every film must take you one step further or you have nothing to fall back on, because there is no film industry.
When you are making a film that will be seen by more people outside of your country than within it, do you make different choices on the set as a result? Are you making a film with an eventual audience in mind?
Yes, I do have to think more openly. For example, the subject matter of Hsiao Guei [the practice of raising and controlling child ghosts], we cannot go too deeply into the history or the specifics of it, because Taiwanese people or Chinese people may understand all that, but foreign people won't have a clue. So, instead, we have to try to simplify it as a family curse.
When I was making
The Heirloom, I discussed the rules of the genre with the producer a lot. I watch a lot of horror movies myself. I go to the cinemas every Friday to watch new movies on their opening night, so I know how to appreciate genres as an audience. But, when I was making this film, I had a lot of freedom to not follow the rules. The producer and I, and the writer, we wanted to do something different; we wanted to do a horror film that would not have any precedent or follower. I am not sure if we succeeded. But that's what we wanted.
What was the appeal of working with a relatively inexperienced young cast?
I haven't worked with an established cast of movie actors yet. I am relatively new myself, so I am very open to working with new or young actors. Anybody who decides to work on movies in Taiwan is basically passionate about filmmaking. Even if they are inexperienced, they have a lot of passion and spirit.
What influence has the work of Kim Ji-woon had on The Heirloom? You are able to evoke a similar mood to his A Tale of Two Sisters. You're also the only director I've noticed that has cited Iwai Shunji as an influence. His feature from a few years back, All About Lily Chou-Chou, is one of the most unique films of the past ten years and sadly little-seen in this country.
Kim Ji-woon's influence on me is his striking imagery and also, in
A Tale of Two Sisters, how the secret in the house is the biggest horror. His films, instead of being straight horror films, are more like tragedies. I also wanted
The Heirloom to have tragic elements, in some ways, like Greek tragedy where you cannot escape your destiny. Very tragic, but very beautiful.
Iwan Shunji... his films, I find, are about many coincidences or fleeting moments in life. These moments are mysterious; you don't know why they happen, but when they happen, they are romantic, too. I think his romanticism has influenced me greatly.
What sort of story would you like to tackle next?
Well, the film I really want to make right now is a coming-of-age love story between two guys and a girl. In some ways, it is my memory of high school and the friends I had there. So I really want to make this film while my memory is still fresh.
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