In Memory of Ed Wang

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By Dan Chen

When

the sad news hit, I first felt completely numb but gradually spiraled into deep sorrow. The last time we met was in the summer of 2005, right before he left for Cannes Film Festival to serve as a judge. We had a truly delightful evening reliving through college years in the home party of classmate Larry Chiang( ). He was as rugged, humorous, and vibrant as in his youthful days, showing no sign of illness at all. Since the sad news arrived, I have been trying to retrieve small detail of the fond memories with Ed, wishing to relive the occasions.

The first time we met after graduation was in the 1972-1973 period. On his way from Florida to Seattle, he drove an Italian-made two seater (MG) via Duke University and stayed one night with us. With hippie hair, he looked remarkably well. His free spirit thrived in that era and resonated with America. Again, he told me about his wishes to make a film. But like many other things with Ed, he was way ahead of me and I therefore didn’t pay serious attention to what he had to say. However, this time he seemed to be more prepared. Some years later, I received a letter from him informing me of his study at the University of South-ern California Film School. And the next time I heard about him was from a newspaper reporting his award-winning film “That Day on the Beach”.

Many years later on one occasion when I visited Taiwan, I gave him a call. A lady answered the phone and took my message. Later, I realized that she was Ms. Tsai Chin ( ). Ed called back and invited me to, in his words, “lim shir jiu” ( to drink warm liquor) at a Japanese restaurant on Lin-shen North Road of Taipei. I still remember comments he made during that dinner. He said he was proud of the numerous talents nurtured by Taiwan and appreciated the opportu-nities Taiwan had to provide. He truly believed that Taiwan could become the shining example of the Pan-Chinese world. He attributed that potential to the cross fertilization of different cultures and genes brought together to Taiwan

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46 alumni-voice.nctu.edu.tw

throughout history. That sounded like an old stereotype but was, surprisingly, uttered from within Ed’s heart. Looking back now, how true those comments were!! He genuinely believed that he could make a difference and he really did, in hindsight.

Beaming in the afterglow of the first real success of his career, he was to-tally immersed in well-deserved pride. That was truly a happy moment in his convoluted career path, a moment of confirmation and redemption! However, in a moment like this, especially as this was our first meeting in many years, I was hoping that he would talk a bit about his marriage life but he never did. I learned much later that his marriage was one of those with two superb individu-als who can’t get along.

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In the late nineties, I visited Taiwan more frequently and met him quite a few times. Unable to hold back the nagging requests of my children to see him, I finally took them to meet him in his office. He was patient, warm, and inspiring, showing his talent to handle children. That reminded me of his experiences as an enthusiastic coach of a little-league soccer team back in Seattle. Beyond the curiosity and the respect for Ed, my children genuinely like this “cool guy”. Who wouldn’t? Standing in front them was a handsome accomplished movie director wearing a pair of trendy sneakers, tight jeans, and a baseball cap while their father looked straight and nerdy watching on the sideline! Many years later when his son Sean was born, his brief email message said it all: “Dan, you don’t know how happy I am!” Every time that voice went through my mind in the last couples of days since Ed’s death, I got lost in sorrow and emptiness. Talking about his office, we noticed that at the corner of his office, there was a small bucket full of the trophies and awards he received from numerous film festivals. Those honors and accomplishments were thrown into the bucket like junk. I couldn’t help cracking a joke on him: “Yi-jin duo sau chern (How much for a pound)?”

On another occasion, I was invited to watch the pre-screening of one of his films in the Taipei movie district. I can’t remember the title now, but frankly, I didn’t like the ending, and couldn’t comprehend why he did it that way. But, some time later, Voila! Ed won another award with that film! Also memorable to me that night was that Ed kindly introduced several of his director friends to me, including Mr. Wu nian-jeng( ).

On yet another occasion, he called to meet me. Without any warning, he brought with him Kaili whom I met for the first time. A few days later, the three of us met again through a last-minute arrangement in a typhoon night at Hsinchu. I happened to be there giving a short course at ITRI while they came to stay in the residence of his brother who was a high-ranking ITRI official at the time. We were left alone because his brother couldn’t make it back from Taipei. We had a wonderful conversation which lasted well past midnight. I also remember we listened to the music tape “Days of Crayons” composed by my son. That piece and perhaps the title seemed to bring a bit of emotion from us in that ty-phoon night. Knowing then what Ed had gone through, I felt so happy for him

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that he had finally found his true love.

Ed seemed to take after his mother with his artistic talents and his father with his temperament. On one totally unexpected occasion when I attended a conference at Seattle, I had the opportunity to visit his parents’ home with a close friend of Ed’s brother. Ed wasn’t in Seattle then. It’s obvious from his parents’ home decoration that Ed’s talent came from his mom. I was particu-larly impressed with her simple but expressive arrangement of flowers and el-egant choice of furniture. That reminded me of Ed’s cartoon style. That same feeling hit me again when my wife and I visited their new nest at Taipei, Ed’s and Kaili’s that was. In their spacious living room stood a grand piano, a guitar and flowers sitting on simple furniture but the room was artistically and beauti-fully done. During our visit with his parents, I was surprised to find out that Ed’s father was originally from “Plum County” of Canton. So we happily ex-changed in Hakka language and cracked a few jokes on each other. I like them. They were both loving and caring parents. I believe that’s why several times in Ed’s life when he really felt tired, he went to Seattle seeking rest in the refuge of mom and dad During my conversation with his mom, she told me a story about Ed. She said when Ed completed his master degree from University of Florida, he nicely wrapped his degree diploma as a gift and said to her with a joking tone: “Mom, I did it for you and now it’s done and I want to make a film.” When I told Ed later about this story, he responded with a grin: “My mother is the best director of the story!”

In the later part of Ed’s career even when he won the best director award at Cannes, he couldn’t hide his frustrations and disappointments about the Tai-wanese film industry and talked about totally giving up traditional film making. He started to talk about making an animated film, a totally new adventure for him. Given my previous experiences misjudging him, I dared not to take him lightly then. Years later when he, classmate FK Sun( ) and I met for break-fast at Taipei Howard Hotel, his dream seemed to me much more realizable, more than ever. I was actually excited for him and looked forward to his re-demption day, only to find out with a broken heart that his life cut short and his ambition remains unfulfilled. This is his “unfinished melody”, and is indeed a loss for Taiwan and, for that matter, the world!

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Again and again in his movies, Ed had shown his hatred for injustice, defi-ance of traditions, and compassion for the oppressed. I am happy to see he broke loose from the bondages of traditional values and found his genuine pas-sion and true love. His legacy will be remembered. His friendship will be missed.

May you rest in peace, Ed!

July 4, 2007

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S e a n e m a i l Dan, you don’t know how happy I am!

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Days of Crayons