2020 CTS Film Week: "Six Suspects" (六個嫌疑犯) Film Screening, Introduced by Professor Chris Berry (KCL)

Professor Chris Berry (KCL)

2K Restoration

1965∣108min∣ B&W∣ Narrative Feature∣ Taiwanese

2018 Woman Make Waves Film Festival, Taiwan

Synopsis

TENN Kong-Hui is a private detective who uses people’s shady pasts to blackmail them. Tai-Giok is a secretary to a steel company’s chairman, and a dangerous character. When she and Kong-Hui break up, he begins collecting evidence against her, and in the process unearths the dirty secrets of the people associated with her. One day, Kong-Hui is found dead in his apartment. There are five suspects but all of them have alibis. Just when the police seem to have hit a dead end, a sixth suspect emerges….

After the success of May 13th, Night of Sorrow (1965), LIN Tuan-Chiu adapted a Japanese film into this gripping detective mystery of love affairs, greed and murder. However, LIN was not satisfied with the finished film, so it never received a theatrical release. But its’ complicated relationships in a modern society, and its riveting plot twists, still resonate today. All aspects from the characters, performances, costume and makeup to production design is well-executed, and the elaborate interior sets, expressionistic lighting and smooth jazz soundtrack turn 1960’s Taipei into an exciting, bourgeois metropolis.

Director Biography: LIN Tuan-Chiu

Born in 1920 to a wealthy coal-mining family, LIN studied in Japan. He became a playwright, active in Taiwan’s New Drama Movement, and a writer-director for Taiwanese-language films. After working at the Toho Company in Japan, he became one of the first Taiwanese filmmakers with hands-on studio experience. In 1958, LIN established Yufeng Pictures and Hushan Film Studio. His films are well known for their detailed psychological portraits, especially the portrayals of female characters. Using compelling stories, diverse camera movements and carefully-designed composition, LIN shot many classics, notably The Husband’s Secret (1960), May 13th, Night of Sorrow (1965) and Six Suspects (1965).

Speaker Biography

Prof Chris Berry is Professor of Film Studies at King’s College London, and his academic research is grounded in work on Chinese-language cinemas. Primary publications include: (with Mary Farquhar) Cinema and the National: China on Screen (Columbia University Press and Hong Kong University Press, 2006); Postsocialist Cinema in Post-Mao China: the Cultural Revolution after the Cultural Revolution (New York: Routledge, 2004); (co-edited with Luke Robinson) Chinese Film Festivals: Sites of Translation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017); (co-edited with Koichi Iwabuchi and Eva Tsai) Routledge Handbook of East Asian Popular Culture (Routledge, 2016); (edited with Nicola Liscutin and Jonathan D. Mackintosh), Cultural Studies and Cultural Industries in Northeast Asia: What a Difference a Region Makes (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009); and (co-edited with Feii Lu) Island on the Edge: Taiwan New Cinema and After (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005).

* All SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies are free and open to all to attend. We suggest you arrive a few minutes early at the venue to secure your seat.

Organiser: SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies

Contact email: ml156@soas.ac.uk

Sponsor: Taiwan Film Institute & Taiwan Cinema Toolkit