Mixed Fruit Banana Split
TAIWAN / 2000 / Chinese / Color / Video / 63 min
Director, Photography, Editing, Producer, Source: Catherine Wu
4F No.10 Alley 10 Lane, 10 Kerqiang Rd, Shlin District Taipei TAIWAN
Phone: 886-2-2831-1977
E-mail: catherine.wu@kimo.com.tw
Do-do and Tao-zi are 18 and work in a cafe and clothing boutique in fashionable Tian-mu. They’re also in love with two boys who work in a skateboard shop down the street. A-mei, also 18, goes to church and night school. She loves karaoke and dreams of being a stewardess. Polaroids, make-up, nose-piercing, dyed hair, long nights chatting, crushes, fashion—add the girls’ bubbly energy, irresistible charm and emotional stories about their upbringing, and you can be hooked! A time capsule of youth laid out against the theme song for Pretty Woman.
[Director’s Statement] You may be right in the middle of your adolescence. Or perhaps, just like me, you are searching in vain for that beautiful past in your memory.
The lifestyles of sassy girl trio Tao-zi, Do-do, and A-mei, all about showy fashion and relentless outing, was what initially inspired me to film them. But after spending some time with them, I began to catch a glimpse of the various episodes that had taken place in their lives.
All girls had grown up in single parent households. They had acquiesced to the divorce of their parents without a word. Now grown up, are they simply thirsty for love because of their parents’ broken marriages? Unpleasant incidents of their childhood have led them to mature early. Whether they accepted their parents’ decisions at the time or not, they needed to develop a life philosophy on their own in order to live their lives happily thereafter.
Having fun is a way of venting steam and also a kind of solace for them.
So why don’t we start with fashion and party-life and get to know them better!
Catherine Wu
Graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the Graduate Institute of Sound and Image Studies, Tainan National College of the Arts. Other works include Corn & Ham Crepe (1997, shown at the 6th Women Make Waves Film Festival), Toward Li Su (1998), Jin-nan (1999, shown at the Taipei Film Festival and the 7th Women Make Waves Film Festival). This film was shown at the Taipei Film Festival (2000) and the 25th Hong Kong International Film Festival. |