One Body Two Sides 遙望彼岸
2019 – Taiwan – 26 min


Directed by Wang Zhi Xiang
Cast | Wu Zhi Xuan, Xue Ya Ying, Wang Xe Xing
Screenplay & editing | Wang Zhi Xiang
Cinematography | Goh Yong Kang
Music | Tôn Thất An
Sound | Sydney Hu, Hong Jia Qi
Colour grading | Aurélien Jégou


Premiere at the Golden Harvest Festival, Taipei, Taiwan 2019

listen to the score: (click image to open)

“Zhi Xiang was this twenty-something young director about to graduate from university. He had just finished his first short film One Body, Two Sides 遙望彼岸, and was on the look for a composer to complete his film. He only had two weeks left! At that time, I had just finished The third Wife, and had begun composing for Song Lang and for Between Shadow and Soul, the black-and-white reworking of The third Wife. My good friend Aurélien Jégou told me about Zhi Xiang and highly praised him as a talented and promising young director. “Could I help?” My reply was: “Only if I liked the film”, secretly hoping that I would not. But fate had it that I did.
I usually like to let my ideas take their time to grow and develop. Whether a long feature film, a short film, a song, or music for contemporary dance, each project is like a person. But I never know how long it will take to complete the music. Inspiration can strike like lightning or take months to shape up and find its tone and colours. For One Body, Two Sides, I didn’t much time though, and fortunately, I quickly grasped what the film needed. I penned and recorded the music and record with cellist Emily Chang) in the course of a week or so.
When Zhi Xiang came with his team to listen to what I had written, It was a group of fresh-faced kids who could easily have been my own children showing up at my door. But what impressed me was how well organised and efficient each of them was.
A few years has gone by since that first short film. But Zhi Xiang has remained as passionate, hard-working and dedicated as he was. He may have done lots of odd jobs, but he never lost sight of what really mattered to him. So when he asked me to compose for his second shot film, I didn’t hesitate one second.”