A Monk and his Mother

TSAI Shu Erh

Taiwan〡2017〡Fic〡29min〡BW〡No Dialogue
2018 西寧FIRST青年電影展短片競賽最佳劇情短片獎
2018 金穗獎優選獎

A monk must come home to take care of his dying mother. The problem is his mother is still mad at him for leaving home years ago, she would not want to see him again. In a peaceful way, monk waits for her mother’s death. However, since the moment the monk stepped into home, everything here around had triggered his deepest memory. When the past arises, the monk found out that his feeling was no longer under controlled.

Director

TSAI Shu Erh

Tsai Shu-Erh, a Taiwanese director and screenplay writer, is good at using the genre to tell stories of which films’ theme is always around exploring the multiple sides of human’s inner emotions and characters. Worked with the famous horror movies master Takashige Ichise, the outstanding screenplay writer Kuo-Jung Tsai, and other remarkable film makers. In 2016, screenplay CC Daddy is the only one from Taiwan adopted by the《Early Bird Film Director Project》of Hong Kong International Film Festival.

Jury's Comment

心漾紅塵。被生死囚禁的破房裡，往昔如幽靈徘徊，建構著斷片的此刻。

Discussion

蔡恕爾導演：
13歲那年，媽媽帶我到廟裡，聽廟裡的人說我很有佛緣，但媽媽叮嚀，要我千萬別出家，從那時開始對佛有了興趣。
這部片是在一個廢墟中拍攝，大部分場景都是美術安排的，片中有不少的符號，而背景聲音都是後製的。
一開始劇本是有台詞的，因為預算有限，不斷的刪除內容，最後發現沒有台詞也是可以，更單純注意光、聲音。
片中的背子巾意指臍帶，表示和尚與母親的關係，也表現他存有赤子之心；廁所裡美術安排兩張美女圖，我的解讀是，媽媽要貼的兒子看，希望兒子不要出家用的。
我用超現實主義表現心裡的壓抑，黑白影像給人距離，跟人的夢境一樣。很多拉近鏡頭的畫面，要給人似夢非夢的意涵。