Almodóvar in Asia: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and LGBT Film Culture

Almodóvar's influence on Asia is not limited to popular musical culture. The mutual admiration between Almodóvar and internationally acclaimed Hong Kong auteur, Wong Kar-wai, expressed in a variety of stylistic affinities and influences is significant. The author includes the discussion of Almodóvar and Wong to highlight the overlap between these two global auteurs who may well have influenced each other by virtue of the global circulation of their films, especially in the international film festival circuit. For Asian audiences familiar with Wong's style, the similarities between them have potentially made them more ready to appreciate Almodóvar's films. Such cultural cross-pollination has no doubt contributed to the circulation of Almodóvar's films in Asia, especially in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The author outlines the circulation of Almodóvar's films in Taiwan, and, with this foundation, explores the themes, ideology, and aesthetics that are appropriated and translated into the Taiwanese filmmaker Zero Chou's film.