MALICE
Are civilization, law, and order, essentially against human nature?
FEATURE_FILM_IN_PRE-PRODUCTION
Winner Bole Film Award at Taipei Golden Horse FPP 2022Berlinale Talents Tokyo 2022Locarno Match Me! 2022Udine Focus Asia 2022 Hong Kong Asia Financing Forum 2022Rotterdam Lab 2022Three men board the last harpoon boat to search for the extinct swordfish. Haunted by violent shadows of their pasts, their obsessions become their doom. Four years ago, an accident chasing the swordfish took away the life of Captain FU’s elder son. It was the last time the giant swordfish was seen. With no fish to catch, his other son YEE thinks about transforming the business. At the moment when their boat Victory is about to be abandoned, Fu meets a foreign boy RUAN who tells him that the fish is still out there. Can’t resist the temptation, Captain Fu brings Yee and Ruan embarking on a journey to search for the giant swordfish.
The sea never forgets.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENTLungyin Lim
Two years ago, I first encountered these fishermen in eastern Taiwan who are still practicing this ancient style of spearfishing in their hunt for swordfish. And the sheer brutalness of it shocked me. They would hunt down the fish with these 3-meter-long tridents, and after exhausting the fish, they drag it onto the deck and violently batter it to its death. In the spilling blood, you see the thrill and cheer on the fishers’ faces. And it brings me to the classic question:
Is violence an inevitable part of human nature?
A recent rereading of Moby Dick inspired the film. However, in contrast to putting nature on the adversary, the reality in Taiwan provides a modern twist: There are nearly no more fishes to catch. Due to overfishing in the past decades, swordfish harvest has seen a steep decline in the last few years. Last winter, 33 boats sailed out for the fish, and only one came back with one catch.
This becomes the general setting for the story. Instead of revenging against nature, it is a story of three men that go on a journey to look for the lone-gone giant swordfish; its last appearance four years ago was in an accident that killed the captain’s elder son. The struggle between men and their obsessions eventually broke their self-control and resulted in violence and death—a story of the wills of men losing to the force of nature.
Lungyin Lim, Taiwan
PHOTOS FROM LOCATION SCOUTING
Taiwan’s complex history provides a unique stage for this story. This island has become a controversial place in this contradicting world. With its prosperity, it is often commented that this land of peace has forgotten its surrounding crisis and is secluded from the outside world. Yet few people knew that merely 30 years ago, blood still covered our shores. On Kinmen beach in 1987, our army that carried the order of national authority butchered dozens of Vietnamese refugees stranded in the flee from home. The era isn’t distant; it is merely forgotten, embedded into our present time that still faces the shadow of war, becoming part of our complex identity.
Nowadays, we value a peaceful civil lifestyle in which we strive to become our ideal selves, but what if there is an alternative in which we can face and coexist with the killer instincts we are born with, and live so without bias?
CREATIVE TEAM
惡潮 | a feature fiction film in pre-production | Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Czech co-production
Director: Lungyin Lim Screenwriter: Chia-Hsin Hsieh Taiwanese Producer: Ivy Yu-Hua Shen Malaysian Producer: Shee Heng Kuek Indonesian Producer: Yulia Evina Bhara Czech Producer: Michal Sikora
CAST
Angga Yunanda, Hsueh Shih-Ling, Jieh-Wen King
“Malice” wins award at Golden Horse in Taipei
This year’s FPP showcased a record 68 projects, including 40 in-development film projects, eight works-in-progress film projects and 20 series projects. Malice received a TWD 300,000 cash prize from Bole Film and is prioritized for future investment and funding. Director Lungyin LIM: “I’d like to pay special thanks to the Golden Horse Committee, Bole Film, […]