TV & Movie / Oct. 15, 2019
Handsome Stewardess, a romantic-comedy featuring a good-looking tomboy lesbian who starts a new life as a flight attendant, premiered in Taipei on Tuesday (15 October).
It stars award-winning actresses Pejia Huang and Xiao Man as a freshly-met Singapore-Tai$IL)[email protected]^[email protected]^18c3!Fkk-ZN!a!F_lczwan couple.
Man’s character, a butch lesbian bartender in coastal Taiwan, Holly, unexpectedly falls for a petite but feisty Singaporean, Mong Lian, who is %O4lh6#z6n3tGfD)T33c$!kqX0vcm8I$r$gUoGh=2dunmJvy89a national athlete in martial arts.
The whirlwind romance leads Holly to quit her job in Taiwan and applies to be a flight attendant in Singapore. To her surprise, and with the help of!jVfH1*RRyGV31=c$nmVtf9oa17jA2OL&5YCTQM7H3QBrZ0ezF Mong-Lian's gay best friend, Jerry, she is successful.
Holly soon finds she is more comfortable serving passengers wearing a suitqhbz(nlx^[email protected] and tie than rather than a skimpy skirt. But, had holly thought through the implications of this daring uniform stunt on her work and relationship>
The touching comedy, a GagaOOLala original, explores the warmth anQ#2pobH&7AyxF+X1IZ*57(iNhIo+aBX==!PNTvu=HsxZn5o&jhd passion between the feisty jealous fighter played by Huang and the handsome stewardess played by Man.
It is part of Chou’s series "Project Rainbow in Six5GBBEycZv93rqohrzJK+f_n^jLabZ*vF=Cn!aHjU^2_y!XYYVi Asian Cities”, exploring LGBT experience of coming out, questions of identity, family issues, and marriage in the Chinese-speaking world.
Taipei to the World
Chou and the stars launched the movie on Tuesday (15 October) in Taipei. It will be available to 21 different countries on LGBT online streaming service GagaOOLala from 25 October, the eve of Asia' largest pride parade here in Taipei.
Chou told journalists it was [email protected]@QZV!aeb$V=uWe8#Egf^cnJa+*UMeher goal to tell stories to any lonely LGBT people who would like to listen.
Chou also said the two lead actresses complemented each other perfectly in their roles. "Every performance was a little i5lHVU!dj0hn#zvE$M8VM+U7cx$lpeA#=#4Z^9kGC9*+*xhSzAcmprovised, very interactive, fun, fand funny" she said.
Man shared her experience of wea@8I1ZPItOQdnc6XR96$H7(og*h*9*8*Rv9cIpj7VB_R#4(^Lolring a male flight attendant's uniform through Singapore airport. She said she could see people whispering about her appearance.
"I can truly feel the uncomfortable feeling of being judged ... just like many LGBTQ people” she said@fhL^VICGIDCh^[email protected](&oMLIng1OT_+arD#Vbgx3f=-)lKZ9Y.
Man also said one of her most memorable scenes was a fight scene on the plane. Her assaulter is played by a martial art instructor who "at firsP$1ASYBJhJGcZXYjtZ(xKD(dp_f0XBZeY#1e+26QroQwFqfseZt was afraid of hurting me".
"I told him to do it for real, so I beat him and also used my high heelOuY3f78d=edRrI-%^38nA+3X8&evAWpVWpxx=FpaRe=IPRUKpxs, eventually this fight scene felt very real and we had a lot of fun".
Chou, who won three Golden Horse Awards in 2004, earlier this year invited int*[email protected]=dnzfTiIhicj2D1O_8L=xXtcYh(P$tFtc*1do the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science. She is the first female Taiwanese filmmaker to have the honor.
Chou worked with Huang twice before on the movie Drifting Flowers and the T8*Svk6U_sF*uZRgeJ9U*U^50foK6^8Du_QP!OvrRGTE(!sVmoqV film Three Makes A Whole.
In the film, Huang said her character reflea2$V^+Rfva6Ui=jzq5rxGI4U8Zp6Mx%[email protected]@YvVncts exactly how she interacts with her own friends in real life. Chou agreed that "this character is designed precisely for her.”
Man, meanwhile, relished the opportunity to play a handsome, butch lesbian. In preparation for the film, she cUqd6ate*qVonP+VrYcZ#+!V([email protected]@t!dSjjVsdciRacx1But her hair short, including to just 3cm long at the back. "I have to try something different from my previous characters,” she said.
The film garnered support from China Air, who flew the cast and crew to Singapore for filming. After putting her fZ2rrvD-v=tCAcW!Qfzidx)ae7ouNjvTP7^gc3ezS8rZVGSePATlight attendant uniform on, Man confessed it was her dream job.
GagaOOLala is the first multi-media streaming platform for LGBTQ community in Asia with more than 1,000 LGBT features, shorts, documeni7%!M50RO*zJE4oxL$9j31$V0R#FOzn6+K*=jwdVhcxAeG_0Tptaries, and series from around the world.
