Six people affected differently by the same effect; a mass shooting at a night market. The shooter, his friend, a victim, the victim’s fiancée, a journalist, and a witness. Where to start?
Taiwanese cinema has long explored bleak depictions of working and middle class urban lives, and since the New Taiwan Cinema there has also been a persistent strain of hopefulness, so here is Goddamned Asura. Is the film about the mass shooting, per se? No. It’s about the lives these people have led and the paths they are set on. Can they change the track? Is it fate? Is there a point in trying to answer these questions?
The film is a display of technical excellence. Lighting and color timing are utilized effectively and subtly, which isn’t always common in films no matter their country of origin. The sound design is balanced and quiet, but emphasizes discomforting tones to signify the characters’ pain. The use of drones was interesting, as that’s a technique more common to horror films, and it’s always interesting to see the blending of tools from different genres. The writing is flawless. No exposition, just characters speaking to each other the way real people speak to each other, and the words left for the viewer to ponder. Perhaps not so surprising given the quality of Taiwanese films outside of popular genres, but it’s still nice to see a film that doesn’t reduce itself to tropes and simplistic messaging for the sake of viewers’ desire for accessibility.
What struck me about the characters is that the use of stock characters and archetypes are eschewed in favor of realism. Yes, the civil servant is kind of a nerdy gamer, but he’s also engaged and comes from Taiwanese Aboriginal background. The shooter isn’t bullied and abused, but he does struggle to be validated by his family. The witness has a seemingly normal life aside from a typical but not overly dysfunctional single parent home, and has the kind of street connections a person would develop if they grew up trying to avoid spending time at all.
I feel maybe my writing is too vague here, but I’m trying not to spoil anything. I could possibly be rusty from not having done this for a while. The aftermath of the shooting and the second half of the film delve deeply into the question of “what if?” Its a reflective film, using a tragic event to show how different people handle grief. If they handle it at all. So if the movie isn’t about the mass shooting that is central to its plot, what is it about?
Love, I guess.
5/5
Taiwan
Blu-ray Disc from Deltamac Taiwan Co. Ltd
The Seeming and the Meaning 
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