Cape No. 7

Infobox Chinese Film
name = Cape No. 7


caption =
imdb_id = 1267160
producer = Jimmy Huang
Te-Sheng Wei
director = Te-Sheng Wei
writer = Te-Sheng Wei
starring = Van Fan
Chie Tanaka
Min-Hsiung
Ying Wei-Min
Ma Nien-hsien
Lin Tsung-ren
Mai Tzu
Kousuke Atari
Rachel Liang
Ju-Lung Ma
Bjanav Zenror
Shino Lin
Pei-Chen Lee
Chin-Yen Chang
music = Chi-Yi Lo
Fred Lu
cinematography = Ting-chang Chin
editing =
distributor = Buena Vista
released = flagicon|ROCAugust 22, 2008
runtime = 133 MINUTES
country = ROC
language = Mandarin, Taiwanese, Japanese
budget = NT$50,000,000
gross =
website = http://cape7.pixnet.net/blog/
jianti = 海角七号
fanti = 海角七號
pinyin = Hai Jiao Qi Hao
imdb_id = 1267160
website = http://cape7.pixnet.net/blog/

"Cape No. 7" is a 2008 Taiwanese romantic comedy film written and directed by Taiwanese director Te-Sheng Wei (魏德聖), his first full-length motion picture. The film is mainly in Mandarin Chinese but also contains significant lines in Japanese and Taiwanese. Before its commercial release, the film was premiered at the 2008 Taipei Film Festival on June 20, 2008 as its opening film. [ [http://cape7.pixnet.net/blog/post/18771807 台灣電影年度大製作 《海角七號》6/20台北電影節世界首映] ] The film later won 3 awards in this festival.

Prior to this film, the two leading actors Van Fan (范逸臣) and Chie Tanaka (田中千絵) only had minor acting experience while some of the supporting roles were filled by non-actors. Even without a strong promotional campaign, this movie has attracted widespread popularity in Taiwan and has become the most successful film produced on the island.

The film is registered to compete in the 2008 Golden Horse Award and the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

Plot

Back in the 1940s during the Taiwan under Japanese rule era, a Japanese teacher (Kousuke Atari) dispatched to Hengchun fell in love with a local girl given the Japanese name Kojima Tomoko (Rachel Liang). After the Surrender of Japan, he was forced to return to his home country. On his trip home, he penned seven love letters to express his regret for leaving Kojima Tomoko, who originally planned to elope with him to Japan.

More than 60 years after the teacher left Kojima Tomoko, Aga (Van Fan) is introduced as a struggling young Hengchun-native rock band singer who could not find success in Taipei. After returning to his hometown, Aga's step father (Ju-Lung Ma), the Town Council Representative, arranged a postman position for him, replacing the senile Uncle Mao (Lin Tsung-ren), on break after a motorcycle accident broke his leg. One day Aga came across an undeliverable piece of mail: the Japanese teacher has been dead and his offspring decided to mail these unsent love letters to Taiwan after discovering them. Aga unlawfully opened this mail to discover its contents, but the old Japanese-style address Cape No. 7, Hengchun County, Takao Prefecture could no longer be found.

Meantime a local resort hotel inside Kenting National Park is organizing a beach concert featuring Japanese pop singer Kousuke Atari, but Aga's step father made use of his official identity to insist that the accompanying band be formed by locals. Tomoko (Chie Tanaka), a Chinese-speaking Japanese fashion model dispatched to Hengchun, took up the difficult task of managing this band, led by Aga along with six other locals of rather particular backgrounds. After a frustrating trial period Aga and Tomoko unexpectedly began a relationship. With some assistance from hotel maid Ming-chu (Shino Lin), Tomoko helped Aga find Kojima Tomoko, the rightful recipient of the seven love letters. Aga then returned to the beach resort and performed a highly successful concert with this local band and Kousuke Atari.

Filming

This movie was mainly filmed between September and November 2007 in Hengchun Township and its neighboring Checheng and Manjhou Township, located in the Hengchun Peninsula of Pingtung County, with few scenes filmed in Fangliao Township of Pingtung County, Kaohsiung International Airport, and Ximending in Taipei. Before filming, Chie Tanaka had been staying in Taiwan for one year to study Chinese so she did not have problem dealing with the Chinese lines in the film. Kousuke Atari appeared as himself and acted as the 1940s Japanese teacher in this film.

The production had problems securing financial interest and forced director Wei NT$30 million into debt before release. Wei later said this film's zealous reception should help him manage his debts. [ [http://1-apple.com.tw/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Article&Sec_ID=7&ShowDate=20080913&IssueID=20080913&art_id=30953595&NewsType=1&SubSec=31 《海角七號》票房進逼6千萬 3千萬債務解套] ]

Cast

Reception

Although the film only attracted moderate box-office success during its first weeks, it was helped by strong word of mouth buzz, mainly in blogs and on the PTT. [ [http://cape7.pixnet.net/blog/post/21746004 大家都很關心的《海角七號》台北票房（全台請逕自乘以2）] ] [ [http://www.ptt.cc/bbs/movie/M.1221233272.A.31F.html 從賽德克巴萊到海角七號，然後，再一次回到賽德克巴萊] ] The film attracted widespread attention at the 2008 Pusan International Film Festival where its broadcasting rights were successfully sold to South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. [ [http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/oct/6/today-fo4.htm 釜山電影論壇 台灣不見了] ] The film will make its United States premiere on December 12, 2008 in Los Angeles. [ [http://cms.www.gov.tw/NewsCenter/Pages/20081007/20081007cfp0122.aspx 海角七號將跨海來洛杉磯參加台灣影展] ]

Controversies

The United Daily News published an editorial criticizing the film as "marred by the colonial thoughts during the Taiwan under Japanese rule era" on September 25, 2008. [ [http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/X1/4532323.shtml 海角七號…殖民地次文化陰影] ]

At the 2008 Pusan Festival, a deputy director of the Republic of China's Government Information Office was barred from attending the closing ceremony due to political pressure from the People's Republic of China. [ [http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/oct/6/today-fo4.htm 釜山電影論壇 台灣不見了] ]

Awards

* 2008 Taipei Film Festival: Taipei Million Grand Award, Best Audience Award, Best Cinematography.

* 2008 Asian Marine Film Festival: Grand Prize [ [http://www.amffm.net/] ]

References

External Links

* [http://cape7.pixnet.net/blog/ Official Website]
*imdb title|id=1267160|title=Cape No. 7
* [http://culturatti.com/2008/10/10/cape-no-7-about-710-but-worth-seeing/ Cape No. 7 English Review]