Film Screening of The Bold, The Corrupt And The Beautiful 血觀音

Film Screening of The Bold, The Corrupt And The Beautiful by Director YANG Ya-Che

The Bold, The Corrupt And The Beautiful (2017 / drama, suspense / color / 112 minutes)

Synopsis

Madame Tang’s late husband was a general. Based in Mituo Township in the Southern Taiwan, Madame Tang uses culture as a cover as she utilises her late husband’s connections in politics. For a long time, she is the most trusted person when the local businessmen and the politicians need someone to whitewash their shady deals. Ever since she could remember, Tang Chen has preferred Madame Tang, who always seems kind and competent, to Tang Ning, who often acts like a crazy woman. Although Ning never likes the pretentiousness and hypocrisy filled in the family, she forces herself to stay and work with her mother. Curious about the hushed conversations between the adults around her, Chen quietly learns.

Recently, the land development project that Madame Tang has encouraged everyone to invest in goes wrong; for some unknown reason, the location has been changed, and all the money they have put in is frozen. Moreover, not only the local councillor who approved the loans to the investors but also the entire family of his is murdered. The horror shocks the group, creating rifts between the partners.

Ning has never wanted Chen to become a socialite at such a young age, and she often agues with her mother over this issue. After the incident happened, Madame Tang assigns a task to Ning, who refuses to get Chen involved. Nevertheless, Lin Pien-pien, the only survivor of the family murders, is Chen’s best friend. The adults can never expect that Chen withholds a secret so crucial that it is leading the development of the case.

As one person gets sacrificed after another, Madame Tang and Tang Ning have no choice but clean up the mess, fulfilling their duty of covering up crimes. To their surprise, the crisis makes the three women of the Tang family, who have always collaborated with each other, realise that they have such different ideas of the place they call home. Moreover, what each of them wants to protect most is different. These three women fight with all their strength and wits, but none of them foresees the outcome that will take them all by surprise…

Director’s Statement

‘The rattan never stops coiling around the tree, even after the tree has died.’ These words come from the lyrics of a Hakka mountain song that depicts the lovers who cannot be separated even by death. Nonetheless, using it to describe the relationships between the heroines in The Bold, The Corrupt And The Beautiful seems rather appropriate.

‘I’m doing this for your own good!’ This is something we often hear from our family; on the surface, love seems to be the motive, however, what is hidden underneath is the unspoken desire for “control”. Starting from the all sorts of lessons arranged during the summer holiday to the choice of friends and jobs, the parents’ total control over their children often results in the incompetence their children suffer all their lives. They stay obedient and naïve forever and never leave their parents. Unfortunately, people always want to control their fates, and when their fates have gone out of their control, it’s just like the rattan and the tree that they remained entwined with each other even after death.

‘One must live like a human being.’ This is my favourite line in the film. Often I cannot stop pondering over the question - if we can’t choose what we want to do in life, what’s the point of being a human being?

The three protagonists in the film are, in fact, the three stages of a woman’s life. This is a tragedy resulting from the fightback mounted by the loss of control.

Lastly, what I would like to depict is that everything has its own life; even the fruits produced by the same flower would grow into different shapes, and that is what we call “life”.

Director Yang Ya-che

Born in 1971, Director Yang Ya-che graduated from Tamkang University, Taiwan with a degree in Mass Communications. Alongside his directorial experience, Director Yang has previously worked as a production planner and screenwriter. Director Yang’s works have received numerous accolades, including the Golden Horse Award, Golden Bell Award and Taipei Film Festival awards.

Director's Filmography

違章天堂 (2002)
2002 Golden Bell Awards Winner: Best Script, Best Director, Best Limited Series and Best Leading Actress

Orz Boyz (2008)
2008 Golden Horse Awards: Best Supporting Actress
2008 Taipei Film Festival: Best Director, Best Work

Girlfriend, Boyfriend (2012)
2012 Golden Horse Awards: Best Supporting Actress, Audience Choice Award
2012 Taipei Film Festival: Best Lead Actor, Best Support Actor

2016 New York ONE SHOW
Golden Pencil Grand Prize “I Rescue My Future” Advertisement Series

The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful (2017)
2017 Golden Horse Awards: Best Feature Film, Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Audience Choice Award

2017 Taipei Film Festival: Best Supporting Actress

Organiser: Centre of Taiwan Studies

Contact email: bc18@soas.ac.uk