REVIEW: Touch of the Light (2012)
Dir. Chang Jung-Chi
With Huang Yu-Siang, Sandrine Pinna, Lee Lieh
By Alexis Fisher
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4odcZbHCRs[/youtube]
Chang Jung-Chi’s TOUCH OF THE LIGHT offers an audience the opportunity to revel in the true-to-life triumph of a blind pianist. Although haunted by taunts from his childhood, Huang Yu-Siang (Huang Yu-Siang) nevertheless follows his dreams. Brilliant yet humble, Siang’s fearlessness is rivaled only by his mother (Lee Lieh), whose reluctance to raising a visually impaired child was overturned by the tender warmth of a baby’s smile, and his love interest, Xiao Jie (Sandrine Pinna), whose desire to dance is buried beneath the burdens of having to parent her own parent. Ultimately, TOUCH OF THE LIGHT creates a space large enough for those witnessing Huang’s journey to inhabit his world, view life from his perspective, and then be changed by it. His “light” illuminates a path for others to follow (3), one that is wide enough for other Taiwanese filmmakers to keep the box office door ajar with projects that usher in another “wave” (7) of domestic truth.
The film opens with a jarring melody of flashbacks and future moments. The viewer catches a glimpse into Siang’s passion, and his struggle. These jagged visuals are a bit disorienting, and speak to the significance of sound in the life of someone born without sight (3). We see/hear the rush of ocean waves that overtake each other constantly; we see/hear the scraping of a pianist’s chair being adjusted before a performance; we see/hear the chiming of fingers sweeping across a metallic wall in an attempt to identify and navigate the oncoming terrain. Eventually, the focus collapses onto the figure of a young man. With only family to wish him well, Siang ventures beyond his rural roots in Taichung to attend a conservatory in the busy city that is Taipei. His reception is lukewarm, at first. Even his teacher admits that his presence is a bit of an experiment, since he is the institution’s sole visually impaired student. However, in spite of these high stakes and in spite of the thread of somberness that stitches the plot with peril, I found my own expectations, throughout the film, to still be rooted in hope.
TOUCH OF LIGHT is a “release your faith and try” kind of production. Since Siang plays himself in a film based on his own journey, this dynamic reinforces the (relatively) new direction of Taiwanese cinema (7). Touch of Light is a further step away from the dominance of foreign films in Taiwan (8). This project amplifies Siang’s voice, and thus creates room for other Taiwanese filmmakers to turn the lens inward so that Taiwanese cinema may reflect the stories found within.
*Many thanks to the following websites for providing character names and plot information*
1. IMDb
2. Wikipedia
*Many thanks to the articles included below that I viewed before drafting my thoughts*
4. ‘Touch of the Light’ to rep Taiwan at Oscars