Review
Film: Young Dudes
Director: Chen Yin-jung
Country: Taiwan
I'm still not 100% sure I know what happened in the
second half of Young Dudes, but DJ Chen has undoubtedly brought one of
the most individual directorial voices I have had the privelege to come
across in my few years going to the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
It's very
much a film of two halves, and although the jump is sudden and almost
confusing, it all comes together at the end in a really satisfying way
(and as a complete aside the final scenes make me want to start a candle
and lantern lit musical festival somewhere far away and remote in the
Highlands).
It starts off in a lovely, 2 guys
and a girl, new-wavey type story. Adam (Edison Wang Po-chieh) wanders about drunk or stoned,
carrying his guitar, with no apparent gainful employment apart from
staging random protests dressed as Michael Jackson and bugging his best
friend Guy (Tsuyoshi Abe), a woodwork teacher. They meet Adele (Larisa Bakurova) randomly one night in a
club, and from their the three of them go off on an endearing journey
through their imagination. With no real problems to deal with, they
come up with a solution for the world to survive the apocalypse they are
convinced is coming. And it goes viral.
Just
when you start to think that this will continue along as a sweet film
about two friends trying to each win over the mysterious girl of their
dreams, Adam gets lost. Without giving too much away, we are carried
into very strange, dream like and philosophical territory. It's
certainly not a way I have ever seen the idea of the apocalypse
approached before on film and it is an intriguing journey. The film in
some ways resembles a fairy tale - the hero taken from his idyllic life
and then finding himself on a quest to return home - albeit a cyber age,
slacker, stoner fairy tale.
The film is
beautifully shot, and really evocative of both youth and lost youth,
dreams and idealism. It is completely infused with imagination and a
singular vision of the world.
The performances are wonderful, both humourous and full of personality.
It's
a film I would love to see again as I think it is the type of film that
you would get something new from repeat viewings. If you want to jump
into a film about the power of friendship, optimism and imagination,
then I highly recommend this.
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