Viva Tonal – The Dance Age

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VIVA TONAL – THE DANCE AGE
跳舞時代
Tiaowu Shidai

Directed by Chien Wei-ssu & Kuo Chen-ti
導演 簡偉斯 郭珍弟
(2003)

"I'm a cultured woman, traveling about footloose and fancy-free…” So begins a lilting tune from Taiwan's "Dance Age" of the 1920s and '30s, a paradoxical time when the island's occupation by Japan also brought youth culture and a measure of artistic freedom. Women smoked cigarettes, love scandals were rife, and risque Taiwanese pop was born. This lively historical documentary mixes engaging interviews with catchy songs, haunting period footage, and reenactments of the unrequited romance between the lovely chanteuse Sun Sun and her songwriter Chen Chun-yu.