Spider Lilies
May 18, 2007 Musings No Comments
In the rare occasion I watch a movie and actually have enough time to write about it before my thoughts fade away, Spider Lilies was an unexpected movie that lingered long enough. Fronted by Rainie Yang, the cutesy singer, and Isabella Leong, whom I’ve stared at long enough working on Media Asia’s annual report, it’s a rather emo show that explores the complex relationship of self-identity and love. While not particularly moving, it does take on the question of self-identity in a way that does not seem too self-conscious most of the time, and I daresay in a less cookie-cutter way, granted I don’t watch all that many movies.
The show can be rather slow paced if you’re not drawn into the theme, which at first may seem more like a love story between Rainie’s character Jade and Isabella’s Takeko. But for me, the part that resonates most is the loneliness of Jade and Takeko, borne out of tragedies that befall them in their younger days, and how they struggle to cope with their realities and who they are.
Jade handles her solitude by being an Internet web-cam girl, dealing out fantasies to men, at the same time fantasizing her own love. In her world of make-believe, she plays out the way she wants the scenario to be. Even in the flashbacks, she talks on the phone with her mother, a conjured conversation on a toy mobile phone to ease the pain of abandonement. The dolls in her webcam sessions is a nice touch to subtly hint at her world of make-believe.
Takeko is a better fleshed-out character, I feel, partly because she drives the whole story forward. The movie is after all about a tattoo, which Takeko, a tattoo artist, wears as a way to make her brother recognise her. Takeko takes every tattoo job seriously, keeping a log of her customers and their reasons for their tattoos. Each tattoo is then crafted in her interpretation of her customer’s reasons. She struggles with her role as an elder sister to her mentally impaired brother, Ching, and as a normal human being in need of love. The roles conflict, and she suppresses her own needs for her brother’s. In doing so, she attempts to assume her father’s identity by wearing the tattoo of the spider lilies.
Adong, a sub-character, plays out the theme of self-identity a little further by coming repeatedly to Takeko for tattoos. These tattoos give him confidence and a self-identity to become a bully, which eventually leads to his downfall.
The lesbian undertones do not add a dimension of homosexual issues to the movie, but merely serve as another way of telling a story about lovers. To be honest, I think that’s really good, as it treats the lesbian aspect as perfectly normal, there are no questions to gender confusion, no questions to social norms, just plain acceptance that this is the way it is. The fact that it is directed by a lesbian director might be the reason for this delightful sense of normalcy.
It’s not a strong movie, but it’s worth a watch for the occasional thinker. Not too heavy on deep philosophical questions, just nice and easy for a pensive evening.