In one of my favourite shops in Sydney – Leung Wai Kee Buddhist Craft & Joss Stick P/L, off George St in Chinatown – you can find rows and rows of statues of Bodhisvatta, arhats, and other religious iconography from China. These statues range from the modestly serene to the psychedelically ornate, all arranged uniformly for the enlightened customer to purchase and worship. The mass production of these statues is an interesting anomaly: where do the lines between religiosity and excessive consumption become blurred, how many times can an image be repeated until it loses all meaning? This is, as one may gain from the title, the central motif of The Great Buddha+, the debut film by Taiwanese director Huang Hsin-yao, which took Taiwan by storm in its release this year, and is playing at SFF, MIFF, and the Tawain Film Festival in Australia. The Great Buddha+ is an interesting anomaly of film, that raises several questions without ever really answering them; it is a cross between the corporate critiques of Akira Kurosawa and Seinfeld, with all the dark comedy and dry wit that one can expect.
The Great Buddha+ is the story of Pickle (a night watchman at a Buddha statue factory) and Belly Button, who both are barely scraping by in their unnamed Taiwanese town. It’s not certain if these two are really friends – Belly Button regularly bullies Pickle – or just wayward workers brought together by circumstance, with no one else left to turn to at their obscenely late working hours. Circumstance also leads them to spend their nights watching Pickle’s boss’ dashcam footage, which then sends them down a rabbit hole of political corruption, capitalist philandering, and religious contradiction. Huang’s film is reminiscent of Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well in its corporate focussed social satire, as well as Brian de Palma’s Body Double, in its depiction of the corporate and political world’s sleazy, and often dangerous, underbelly.
Huang himself is a major player in the film, who, in a Brechtian insert, acts as the film’s narrator; Huang sings the praises of the voyeuristic pleasure of dashcam footage, his personal dislike for Belly Button, and the meaninglessness of his own film. His presence elevates the story to that of fireside storytelling, and injects the film with both sharp critique and smart humour. Huang’s role as a director also carves out a unique voice for the film, wonderfully shot in crisp black-and-white, with a similarly voyeuristic eye. At times, the obviousness of the film’s gags and lines is a bit too droll or crass – in one scene, while viewing colour dashcam footage, Pickle remarks “oh, how full of colour the lives of the rich are!” – but Huang plays with tone in a way to maintain his audience’s interest consistently.
The film’s ending, in which the desecrated Buddha is brought into the Dharma Assembly, builds to a Coen Brothers type crime satire, and ultimately leaves the viewer feeling conflicted with an array of uncomfortable emotions, as no question is left answered, and no villain is left punished. Indeed, like the coldly serene expression of the Buddha, the power of the villains that the film presents remain constant, and unflinching in their dominance over the little guy. This is a film that demands re-watching, as its confusing message and story requires time and thought. For the socially conscious, The Great Buddha+ is an endlessly interesting tale of contradictions in contemporary Asian capitalism, but for others, it’s a funny, and damn good ride from start to finish.
Screening at the Taiwan Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival
Brisbane International Film Festival
Dylan (18)