Renowned Director Lee Chang-dong’s Insights on Cinema and Thoughts on Hou Hsiao-hsien
By David Matthew
Famous South Korean director Lee Chang-dong is favoring first-line actors such as Seol Kyung-gu (also translated as Seol Geng-gu), Moon So-ri, Jeon Do-yeon, Song Kang-ho, Yoo Ah-in, Jeon Jong-seo, etc. He once served as a judge for the 48th Golden Horse Awards. He was invited by the Golden Horse Awards to come to Taiwan again in 2012. Before attending the master class today (18th), he took the time to be interviewed by the Taiwanese media. Li Cangdong is very concerned about current affairs. Whether it is Liu Yaren’s drug abuse or Hou Hsiao-hsien’s dementia, he knows everything about Liu Yaren’s mistake . “It’s a pity,” he said.
Returning to Taiwan after 12 years, Li Cangdong visited western Taipei for the first time, and today he stayed in Xinyi District, Taipei. He felt that the buildings had changed a lot, as if he was in Jiangbei, South Korea, and then south, as if he were in two different worlds. “This time Come here, I think there are a lot of new buildings, and they are different. I was in the west of Taipei before, but this time in the east, the symbol is different. Just like the feeling of going from Jiangbei to Jiangnan, if you go to Jiangbei and then to Jiangnan, you will It feels like a big change.”
Li Cangdong came to participate in the Golden Horse Awards master class this time, mainly to convey to the audience “what is a movie” and the issue of movie decline. At the same time, he revealed his views on the popularity of OTT and the audience’s habit of watching movies in multiples. He said: “Nowadays young people are all When watching movies at home, I feel that fast forwarding is not a good way to watch movies. I think the so-called movie is the time when everyone experiences the movie together. Through the story and characters of the movie, the audience lives together, resonates with each other, and feels the same way. I feel that the essential element of a movie is to understand what kind of movie it is by going to the cinema. If you watch a movie at 1.5x or 2x speed, can this be called watching a movie? Just like everyone listens to music, you listen quickly Well, after listening to it, would you say you like this song? This is common sense.”
When Li Cangdong came to Taiwan, he couldn’t help but mention the famous director Hou Hsiao-hsien. “Among the existing Taiwanese directors, my favorite is Hou Hsiao-hsien. I feel such a pity that I can’t see him this year.” He knew that Hou Hsiao-hsien suffered from dementia, and he Li Cangdong’s work “Poetry of Life” also discussed the issue of dementia. He felt heartbroken about this, but this was only what the report said, and he did not know much about Hou Hsiao-hsien’s details. In addition to directors, Li Cangdong also admires Hou Hsiao-hsien’s favorite actors, including Shu Qi and Chang Chen.
Lee Chang-dong has directed many blockbusters and is also an important figure in making Yoo Ah-in popular. The two collaborated on “Burning Love” which made Yoo Ah-in debut at the Cannes Film Festival. However, Yoo Ah-in has recently destroyed his career and smoked 7 kinds of drugs including banned drugs and marijuana . Li Cangdong watched the news and said bluntly: “It’s a pity.” Does he care about the other party? Li Cangdong did not mention his name, but only said that he had been in contact with the actor who was “lucky to talk to”.
