The Taiwan Oyster (2012)

Taiwan in the year 2000, only thirteen years after the lifting of Marshall Law rule and still an unruly place referred to by many as the “Wild, Wild East,” provides a perfect setting for The Taiwan Oyster. Masquerading as a bender road-­‐movie, the darkly comic film explores deep existentialist questions as the protagonists journey deeper and deeper into the Taiwanese countryside. Darin and Simon’s quest for the perfect burial spot becomes a strange trip down Taiwan’s picturesque East Coast Highway as they encounter the unique cultures of Taiwan, welcoming families, violent gangsters, and Nikita, another lost soul who joins their odyssey. Along the way, they explore the Southeast Asian ex-­patriot experience, their own personal demons, and the universal questions that arise when one is confronted with an untimely death.

Date of release
2012-03-10
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (4)
Runtime
1h 48m
Genres
Drama
Director
Mark Jarrett

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Taiwan

The Taiwan Oyster is a 2013 American low budget adventure comedy-drama Indie film directed by Mark Jarrett. The film marks Jarrett's feature film debut, and was based upon his own experiences living in Taiwan and working as kindergarten teachers from 1999 to 2001. The events in the movie take place when a fellow ex-pat dies. Described as a Texas road film in a Taiwan setting, the project stars Billy Harvey, Leonora Moore, and Jeff Palmiotti.

Production

Mark Jarrett had lived in Taichung, Taiwan, from 1999 to 2001, and set his story to take place six months after the region's September 21, 1999 921 earthquake. Jarrett's original idea was to think of a low-budget road movie. He had been reading William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and decided that his story could take place in Taiwan.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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