“Terrorizers” Young people, urban loneliness, and the traces of Edward Yang

Post-“Taiwan New Cinema” Challenge

The title of this film is "Terrorizers", but Director Widden gave it the English title "Terrorizers". This title is the same as the masterpiece " The Terrorizers " (1986) by director Edward Yang, one of the flagships of Taiwanese New Cinema mentioned at the beginning. The director said that he chose the English title because "the sound is wonderful and the story is about people living in the city and whose lives overlap."

Of course, this film is not a remake of " The Terrorists ," much less a sequel. The two films are separate and independent works. However, the fact that he deliberately chose this title makes director Widden's ambition clear. The nod to Taiwanese New Cinema is well expressed in the beautiful photography that focuses on each and every shot, and the rhythm of the editing that takes ample time for each one. The keyword "city," which the director himself mentioned, is symbolized by the shots of desolate towns that are occasionally inserted.

“Terrorizers” ©2021 CHANGHE FILMS LTD.

However, it would be a waste to leave this film in the context of Taiwanese New Cinema. The film is divided into several chapters, the chronology is shuffled, and the same scenes are sometimes repeated to reveal the whole story, reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994), and the influence of Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express (1994) and In In the Mood for Love (2000) can be seen in the way the young people's love lives go wrong. It could be said that "The Terrorizers" is Widden's own reinterpretation of the highly artistic directors of the 1990s.

The story revolves around a random attack at Taipei Station, and is a mystery with a "why-dunit" structure that asks, "Why did Ming-Liang try to kill his roommate?" It is a tense suspense story in which the human drama of six people becomes intertwined. You will surely be surprised when the plot is cleverly resolved and the story comes together in an unexpected way. Therefore, I would like to avoid revealing more about the story than necessary in this article.

However, it is worth noting that director Widden has stated, "What fascinates me most is the series of moments that occur before and after a tragedy. I believe that is the most true to life." This film is certainly a mystery and a suspense story, but more than that, it is also a story about the psychological changes that occur within people "before and after the incident." The random attack that occurred at the station is merely the trigger that causes all of this to erupt all at once.

Urban loneliness and the “fear factor”