Gate at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
"Taipei was founded in the early 18th century and became an important center for overseas trade in the 19th century. Taipei is the political, economic, and cultural centre of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (not to be confused with the People's Republic of China). The National Palace Museum which has one of the largest collections of Chinese artifacts and artworks in the world is located in Taipei. Considered to be a global city, Taipei is part of a major industrial area. Railways, high speed rail, highways, airports, and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. .." (source: wikipedia)
At the Taipei National Museum
Visiting Taipei makes me think of the movie "Lost in Translation"... particularly the thoughts and feelings of the main female character (played by Scarlett Johansson). I would not say I like the film that much, but I think it is a kind of film that although you probably do not know whether it is good or bad, it still remains with you after some time; and even in some circumstances you recall and think about it. Lost in Translation is "a 2003 American Comedy-drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, revolving around an aging actor named Bob Harris (Murray) and a recent college graduate named Charlotte (Johansson) who develop a rapport after a chance meeting in a Tokyo hotel. The movie explores themes of loneliness, insomnia, existential ennui, and culture shock against the backdrop of a modern Japanese city". In my case, it was 'kind of' in the context of the Taipei city, not as profound as that in the movie but somehow related to some certain extent.. I remember from the film the scene when Charlotte looked around the famous overcrowded 'busiest-intersection-pedestrian-crosswalk-in-the-world' Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing with a big advertisement board (of a dinosaur) in the background, which is also one of the posters of the film. Charlotte was there, at the Shibuya Crossing/Hachiko Square, that sees "approximately one million people each day with as many as 10,000 people crossing during a single cycle of the light" (crazy isn't it?), but she was just feeling lonely. The scene somehow gave me a strange or a little sad impact. Johansson has played the role well: even with limited words, her expressions during the experience in Tokyo with her observations of the Asian, more accurately the Japanese world, speaks of the isolation and strangeness, the lost in another world that is to her not so familiar..
Here I found a more complete and nicely written review about the film, with some photos as well: Lost in Translation is "a film set in the beautiful looking city of Tokyo, Japan, where two strangers meet and form an unlikely friendship. Bob Harris is an American filmstar making an advertisement for whiskey, which has provided him with an opportunity to get away from his boring marriage. Charlotte is a young wife of a photographer and spends most of her time at the hotel alone, as her husband is often out taking pictures. The two, very alone souls wander around Tokyo hoping to find something fun, which is when they come across each other. So now, these two Americans are together exploring Tokyo, being as confused and amused as each other by their relationship with the Japanese. But with their relationship comes with the fact that their relationship will have to end when one of them ends their stay in Tokyo. Which is of course a shame, but through finding each other, they both 'found themselves', so to speak.
Well there's no denying that Lost in Translation is one hell of a beautiful movie. You know that the director has done well when she makes a movie romantic without the story involving a lot of romance. This may sound weird, but I could really feel the romance between the camera and whatever it was filming. Rarely do I ever watch a film that is so understated in the way it is made, but the beauty just glows through it. This is the main reason as to why I pretty much love Sofia Coppola now: she knows how to make a film look gorgeous, without much effort at all. What she also manages to do is give us a good tour of Japan, exploring everywhere from temples to arcades. She doesn't try to make the city look like one perfect place, though, as she makes it look as frustrating as it is beautiful. The relationship between the visitors and the Japanese is particularly funny to watch though, because as any traveller would know, things always happen differently in every country, which makes for a pretty confusing time. There's just a divine simplicity about Lost in Translation which is given life through Coppola's excellent vision of Tokyo and how a film really should be." .. (source: cinematicparadox.com)
The above review is specific for the film, I quoted here as I find it explains well the so-called 'complexity' of the film, but not all applied to my case in Taipei. Just some of the feelings, sometimes the loneliness, strangeness,.. Well, you might think what could have happenned to myself as an Asian girl in an Asian city? A feeling of a world to which everyone alse and yourself assume that you should belong, you try to belong, but somehow you donot, or at least within you there is something not totally right.. Anyway, it is difficult to explain in words, perhaps with more photos and an overview of the whole journey would help to clear what I mean. Stay tuned, I will update this entry soon and who knows, I might develop another opinion when looking back the entire trip..
(to be continued)
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