Fire up your internet watching device of choice and feast your eyes on the work of Taiwanese director Huang Hsin-Yao, whose 2017 dark comedy The Great Buddha+ has just been made available on Amazon, iTunes, and Vimeo. The Film Stage reports:
Huang Hsin-Yao is a new voice in independent Taiwanese cinema, and his first narrative feature — an adaptation of his short film The Great Buddha — carries itself with all of the vitriol that one would expect from somebody angry at the state of the Taiwanese film industry and government. This is apparent from the outset of The Great Buddha+, when Huang speaks to the audience as the credits roll, speaking harshly about the producers and delivering a personal statement. This anger remains throughout–a character named after the producer that Huang is particularly dissatisfied with is even killed off in a darkly humorous manner.
The Great Buddha+ was recently featured in the New Directors/New Films showcase co-organized by the New York Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center last month, along with Hu Bo’s elegiac An Elephant Sitting Still. The film is the latest to be picked up by New York-based distribution company Cheng Cheng Films, which “specializes in bringing top quality Chinese language films to wider audience and acclaim in North America.”
If this is up your alley, check out their full catalogue here, and whet your appetite for the full Great Buddha+ experience with the trailer:
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Cover image: https://movie.gamme.com.tw/18399
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