FILMS/
ORZ BOYZ
Jiong RZ Nan Hai
New Directors
Taiwan, 2008, 110 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Sat, May 3 / 12:45 / Kabuki / ORZ03K
Mon, May 5 / 9:30 / Kabuki / ORZ05K
Tue, May 6 / 3:45 / Clay / ORZ06Y
Thu, May 8 / 5:45 / Clay / ORZ08Y
CREDITS
- prod
-
Lee Lieh
- scr
-
Gillies Ya-che Yang
- cam
-
Chou Yi-wen
- editor
-
Lei Chen-ching
- mus
-
Huang Yun-ling, Chung Hsin-min
- cast
-
Pang Chin-Yu, Lee Kuan-Yi, Mei Fang
- source
-
1 Production Film, 3A, No. 9, San Min Road, 105 Taipei, Taiwan. FAX: 886-2-276-05188. EMAIL: good.film@msa.hinet.net
The title’s meaning might be familiar to those who have spent time in Japanese or Taiwanese chat rooms—the three letters of “orz” represent a person, “o” being the head, prostrate with awe or defeat. But the two best buddies in this film waste no time in front of a computer screen. They are too busy taunting girls, imagining ghosts and animate statues and playing pranks on schoolmates. For their crimes they are forced to spend the rest of the hot, humid semester repairing library books after school. But rather than fix anything, the more literate Liar No. 1 reads wild stories to the younger Liar No. 2 (as they are christened by their teacher whose unorthodox punishment involves lipstick). The stories inspire the boys to plan a voyage to Orz, a faraway world over the Taiwanese sea that promises endless fun, depicted in several beguiling animation sequences. A scheme to whip up a transporting tornado with ten electric fans ends in a blown fuse. Finally, they settle on a solution: a nearby seaside park’s spiral waterslide is a portal to Orz. The hundredth trip down the slide will trigger a blast into that anti-Neverland where children turn instantly into adults. Over time we learn why the boys want to stop being kids: their respective family situations offer numerous difficulties and challenges. Yang dedicates this bittersweet film “to children who want to rush into adulthood, as well as grownups who wish to be kids again.”
—Frako Loden
Presented with support from Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, San Francisco. International Premiere. Sponsored by RF Radio.
