Review: Small Talk

Many times A-nu (left) is silent when her daughter asks her tough questions

On the plane back to Vancouver, I watched an intriguing Taiwanese documentary called Small Talk (日常對話) that was released last year. It made its international premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival where it won a Teddy Award for Best Documentary Film. It has also recently been nominated as Taiwan's pick for the foreign-language film category in the Academy Awards.

A-nu is more at ease with her many girlfriends

It is a brutally honest film about filmmaker Huang Hui-chen and her relationship with her lesbian mother A-nu, who is a Taoist priestess at funerals. Huang says in the beginning that even though she has lived with her mother most of her life, she knows almost nothing about her, always not home and wants to know why. Is it because she doesn't love her two daughters? Is it because they were adopted?

Through a series of tough face-to-face interviews, as well as footage meeting her mother's siblings, talking to her mother's lovers past and present, and even old home movies of Huang growing up, we along with Huang find out more about A-nu.

We discover she knew from a young age that she was lesbian and Huang doesn't understand or at times is naive about what it's like to be gay, and we discover how she is very generous and loving towards her several girlfriends.

In one scene, A-nu plays with her granddaughter

When asked to comment about their sister's sexuality, her brothers and older sister either don't want to talk about it or don't seem to care. They seem embarrassed to talk about it, and would rather discuss her failed arranged marriage to a man.

Before when I used to watch Chinese movies, there would be a lot of silence between characters and I thought it was for dramatic effect, but this is what happens in reality. There are very long pauses when A-nu answers Huang's questions, or complete silence; you can tell she is thinking about something but says she won't answer the question and gets up to leave, with Huang left sitting in the chair disappointed not to get more information.

However she is persistent and the climax of the film is quite intense. As viewers we don't quite know what happens in the end -- are things better or worse between mother and daughter?

Huang with her Teddy Award

Although the pace seems slow, Small Talk attracts viewers with its intriguing premise and we go on a journey with Huang to find out more about A-nu. Her lovers recounting how she seduced them are the light-hearted moments in the film and reveal a touching side of A-nu that Huang was completely unaware of, though they are equally balanced by the dark experiences both mother and daughter faced.

The film is executive produced by famed director Hou Hsiao-hsien, giving it not only professional weight, but also an endorsement to talk about LGBT stories. Will we see more from Taiwan? That would be light years ahead of Hong Kong...

Small Talk (2016)
Directed by Huang Hui-chen
88 Minutes

Taipei Day Two: Cultural Immersion

Fog prevents us from seeing the view of the ocean from Jiufen

This morning we headed out of Taipei over an hour's drive to Yilan County (宜蘭縣), where many families like to go on the weekends. There isn't too much pollution and the water from the mountains is considered to be very clean and fresh.

The street scene at the National Center for Traditional Arts

To get there we had to go through Asia's second-longest tunnel -- 12.5km -- built during Chen Shui-bian's administration and it helped cut the travel time from two hours to one.

We arrived at the National Center for Traditional Arts, a complex built like a traditional Chinese street where local artisans and performers can have a platform to not only sell their products but also practice some traditional arts.

One of the shops sold small ceramic pipes shaped like ducks, turtles, vases, and so on. The owner gave us a quick demonstration and gave a free instruction book with music for customers to try.

A demonstration on a ceramic duck pipe

Another sold soaps made of natural ingredients, using various scents, such as lavender, green tea, Taiwanese coffee and orchid. The natural soaps are supposed to be non allergenic and good for the skin. So naturally we bought a few bars to try. There are also soaps for washing clothes... but don't we all just throw things into the washing machine these days?

Then a procession came by and it was a group of performers clearing the main path for a character called Liao Tianding (廖添丁) who was a real-life person who lived during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan.

People describe him as a Robin Hood figure who robbed from the rich and the Japanese government to give to the poor. Here Liao was dressed in a long traditional Chinese robe wearing a hat and spectacles and sitting by a table with a teapot and cup.

His entrance was the premise to a series of performances on a stage which interestingly began in Japanese, harking back to the occupation period.

The tea house that inspired Spirited Away

After lunch we drove for two hours to Jiufen (九份), a small town in a very mountainous area. It's called Jiufen because in the beginning nine families moved there and when shipments arrived in town, they would ask for jiufen, or "nine portions".

In 1893, gold was discovered there and soon the place was swamped with gold diggers hoping to strike it rich.

The days of finding gold are gone, but the town has been revitalized thanks to director Hou Hsiao-hsien's A City of Sadness in 1989 starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai that talks about the "White Terror" period when the Kuomintang, having arrived from China after its defeat in 1949, rounded up thousands of Taiwanese, sending them to prison or executing them. 

Another film, Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away in 2001 was inspired by Jiufen and in particular a tea house called Ah Mei Cha Lou. As a result many Japanese tourists like to make their pilgrimage to this place. That combined with narrow stairs made it a very crowded area.

Taiwanese crepe filled with shaved peanut and ice cream

Other than the movie references, Jiufen is very popular, particularly on the weekends, where tourists descend on the area as well as Taiwanese who come and stay in the various B&Bs. The narrow streets are filled with small shops selling all kinds of snacks, from stinky tofu both deep fried and braised, fish balls, marinated chicken hearts, and grilled sausages and squid.

We tried some interesting snacks, such as a crepe with a layer of peanut and dark sugar shaved from a block, then two small scoops of ice cream added before it was wrapped up and put in a small plastic bag. The crepe was crunchy, soft and cold at the same time making it a delicious treat but had to be eaten quickly. 

Braised stinky tofu, with the spicy ones on the right

Another traditional dessert is cubes of taro with glutinous rice balls in a sweet green bean soup. It wasn't too sweet, but hard for one person to finish a bowl. This shop was so popular that it has one shop stall for selling the concoction with a seating area behind it and then another shop a few stalls down just for patrons to sit and eat.

One of many stray cats hanging out at Jiufen. Dogs too!

We ended up having dinner in a tea house a bit further down the way that was lit with red lanterns. The meal featured home-style dishes, such as braised fish and braised spicy tofu, a plate of tong choi or morning glory, stir-fried cabbage, chicken and a simple soup of egg white and seaweed. We also had a plate of stir-fried squid.

It's interesting to see how much of an impact the Japanese occupation had on Taiwan. The Taiwanese resented the colonial period but at the same time the Japanese improved the infrastructure of the island. The Japanese influence on cuisine is also prevalent, with dishes on the whole being light, and pickled vegetables are common. 

The night scene overlooking Jiufen

Meanwhile the Japanese love Taiwanese rice which is similar to Japanese rice, short and round unlike the narrow Thai jasmine rice. The Taiwanese are also very proud of their agricultural industry, constantly improving the quality of its rice, fruits and vegetables. Perhaps it has to do with its food security, making Taiwan self sufficient. But in the process it has created a food industry where there are a number of tourists (like those from Hong Kong) who just come to eat, eat, eat.