I went to watch spider-lilies on my own. I was fully aware it's a art house film, made with intention of flaunting the aesthetical nature rather than a commercial film made for the audience's taste. I appreciate such films, owing to exposure and knowledge from one of the film modules I took in NUS. I wanted to watch this film, despite I know no one else would one to go. The fact that it's a Taiwanese film, a female director and the likes of Rainie Yang and Isabella Leong drives me to want to catch the film. According to my knowledge, there is not a lot of prominent female directors in the movie industry. Every director has their way of telling their story. A female perspective offers something new and refreshing. Though the show is not highly rated by the reviews and revolves around the theme of lesbians, it has much more to offer than what I had thought it would be. I enjoy the movie a lot, at least that's what I feel. The movie does not deserves the criticism that does so much injustice to its plot.

Zero Chou tells a sad tale of loneliness, emptiness and the burdens of memories and fantasies with her own style. The chinese name of the film, chi ching which means tattoo would be a more important theme than the lesbian element in the show. Every tattoo is significant. The tattoo is the identity of its bearer. The tattoo makes the bearer who he is. Jade (rainie)wants a spider lilly tattoo on her because she was forever obsessed with her first lover, who had the spider lilly tattoo on her.(her first lover is actually Takeko. but it was only one-sided, Takeko took no fancy of her) There was a punk on the show who felt his only existence was through his prove of might by beating up people on the street. He felt strong only when he had a sabre tattoo on both his arms. Chou is not the only director nor the first who plays with identity formation through external tangible objects. One common cinematic language is the use of clothes in relation to identity. But to say so about the significance of the tattoo to its bearer is new to me. The director explains so when the opening scene question whether a tattoo can be seen as a form of clothing on the human body. I do think that she did a fine job to express the message she wants to tell the audience with that. Takeko (Isabella Leong) was trapped in her world and obsessed with her memories and tattoos. To Jade, that tattoo is the reminiscence of the happy past romance, which contrast so much to that for Takeko, in which the tattoo reminds her of the obligations she had to her family and how costly love was for her. Through Takeko interspersed play-backs, the dark story of the spider Lilly was revealed. Takeko was in the arms of her lover one night. After their rendezvous, Takeko found out in shock that an earthquake had hit her home and she lost her parents, leaving only his younger brother still alive and traumatized. the spider-lilly tattoo on his father's arm was the only thing he could identify with and feel comfortable with. Takeko was guilt-ridden and decided to had that tattoo. It was the only way she could break into her brother's self-centered world and allow him to trust her again. She never trusted love again, for it had proven to only take more away from her.

I like the plot, and its insights to how much a tattoo can do. Everyone in the show fall prey to their dependence on the tattoo such that they had forgotten that the tattoos do not really determine who they are and how it can shape their lifes. It was a twist from how much it was expected out of tattoos,to how much it can really do. The outcome was a wicked cruel waking up to the reality. Memories are embodied in the tattoos. Although memories shape us who we are and how we think, the past that haunts us, can never allow us to break-though the stress and problems, unless we forget it and live afresh. It is so painful to live in the past, if only we can abandon the past and embrace the present, we can live more meaningfully. That is how i would interpret the movie. It is worth watching, but only with the awarness of it content, then can u appreciate the movie. Maybe it could come of as boring to most people, but if u catch all the little details and piece them together, it's possible to make sense out of it. The outcome is an art piece, clear and coherent, that delivers it sensual sensation to its viewer.