Cape No. 7 at the Oscars

When the 2009 Oscars nominations came out, I was not surprised that the TW record smashing hit was not on the list. The film has too many local idioms and cultural references and not enough generic appeal. The film, though original for Taiwan, is really retreading of the summer beach concert movie of the 60s in the US and similar movies in Japan (Nana, Ichi Litre, etc).

This is interesting. Many of the east Asian countries find the value of its media through foreign, particularly, American affirmation. Though this film has found economic success, can it create a genre that can sustain itself? Or will the snub make Taiwanese question itself?