Interview: 'Goddamned Asura' director Lou Yi-an on his multi-layered crime drama

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Inspired by a 2014 real-life killing, Goddamned Asura explores the lives of six people involved in a ramdom shooting in a night market, including the perpetrator - a troubled teenager named Jan Wen. The film follows not only the lead-up to the shooting incident, but also the aftermath of the characters as they face the repercussions of the actions of Jan Wen.The result is a somber exploration of class, isolation, and violence that is unfortunately still timely and universal.

Goddamned Asura is Taiwan's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. In this interview, co-writer and director Lou Yi-an expounds on the origins and themes of the story as well as explaining some terms with their cultural context compared to their English translation...

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"Goddamned Asura" to represent Taiwan at the Oscars

We have our fourth contestant in the annual Oscar games for international cinema. If you missed the first three those were here.

🇹🇼 GODDAMNED ASURA
Taiwan (3 nominations, 1 win, and 2 additional finalists from 48 submissions)

The film is about a young man who orders a gun online and fires into a crowd on his 18th birthday. The film reportedly has an ambitious structure, shifting from virtual gaming to reality and following six different people who will be affected by the shooting. This film was inspired by a true story in 2014 which has inspired other films before this as well since gun violence is rare in Taiwan...

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