TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese filmmaker Hsiao Ya-chuan (蕭雅全) continues to travel with his award-winning film “Old Fox” and share its message with the world.

Asked what he was trying to say through Old Fox, Hsiao’s reply was simple. “What really matters are the choices you make,” explained the filmmaker.

The 56-year-old Hsiao was most recently at the Far East Film Festival (FEFF) in Udine, Italy, with a premiere screening of Old Fox on April 29 at the Teatro Nuovo Giovanni, which was met with an extended ovation by the audience. 

The same reaction has greeted the film wherever it has been screened, and critics have been similarly impressed, handing Hsiao the Golden Horse Award for Best Director back in November, while Akio Chen (陳慕義) picked up the Best Supporting Actor trophy.

Old Fox digs deep into reflections on life, and on life in Taiwan, with its story revolving around the evolving relationships between a young boy (Bai Run-yin), his father (Liu Kuan-ting), and the landlord (Chen) whose nickname is used for the title. 
 

Talking to Taiwan News on the sidelines of FEFF, Hsiao explained the correlation between his own life experience and that of the film’s 10-year-old protagonist, Liao Jie, whose childhood tranquility is shaken by fast-changing society that was the economically unstable Taiwan of the late 80s, after martial law had been lifted. 

“I have always thought that people reach a very crucial point in their life at around the age of 10 as a lot of things seem to have been determined by that age,” the director explained.

Hsiao uses Liao Jie to delve into issues about the formation of values and how independent thinking struggles to emerge at a time in the boy’s life when exposure to real-life dilemmas and contradictory opinions demands that he make choices completely on his own for the first time.

Hsiao said in doing so he had to also delve into his memories of life at that age, and that he had to find ways to focus the audience’s attention fully on the young boy and his coming of age.

“I think that from the eyes of the child, his encounters with the adult world have actually been quite limited, and that he might have no clue about what’s going on between those grown-ups,” said the director. “The father (of the boy) was inspired by my mother, whose moral code of always prioritizing other people’s needs is not a single case, but fits the profile of a generation.”
 

Hsiao also drew on his own early work experience in the advertising industry, when he had found himself dealing with people who later would inspire the character of the old fox who is indifferent on the surface but ruthlessly decisive in action. “I think I was a bit like Liao Jie having to choose between two distinctively different sets of values,” said Hsiao.

By presenting Liao Jie with two contrasting father figures and their clashing values, Hsiao wants his audience to reflect on the paths people take in their lives. “In my observation of the world, whether a person is perceived as good or bad is the result of a series of choices they make,” he said. 

By the end of the film, the little boy has grown into an established architect who seems touched by his father’s humbleness and the laws of the jungle passed on by the old fox. Hsiao reveals that he feels a kinship with the now-grown boy who had held on to the altruistic intentions of his father in his core values.

Hsiao wants his audience to reflect on life and says it is important for young people to find their voice and the confidence to stick with it.

“There are every kind of values in this world, and I have no intention whatsoever to try to conceal or prettify them,” said Hsiao. “I want my children to know that even though we might need to disguise ourselves for self-protection, it’s still important not to forget to be altruistic and kind.”