Last Day / First Day

As I was taking the train for the Narita airport, the thought occurred to me that I no longer had any home anywhere. I imagined the people who fled their country because of wars, political or religious tensions, or my parents when they came to France to study, not knowing it would be decades before they would return to their homeland.

So Taipei was to be my next destination. Japan had been a nice screen which left me some time to face the fact. The Tales of Hoffmann, Jo and Sawako, Satoshi, Niigata, Tokyo, all of this was a nice transition to this new life. 

As Josh was driving me from the airport to Taipei, I still couldn’t grasp it. I was speaking to him, I saw the nocturnal landscape of Taipei. But yet, I was lost. I was in limbo. What was happening? Where was I really? We always envision changes as clear-cut, abrupt events storming into our lives, shaking us violently, not as a continuous flow which start from different places of our life to converge at a certain moment.

I reached Jason’s flat, where I had stayed four months last year. Had I really left it? It was waiting for me. Taipei was waiting for me. People talk a lot of Christopher Nolan’s latest film, Inception. And indeed, that’s how I feel I live my life. I come and go from one level to another. It’s not surprising that I saw that film recently as it came at the right time to express visually how I felt inside.

Byron came to visit me in the middle of the night. He had misunderstood that I was only there for one night and he really wanted to see me and give me a present.

It was nice to see him again. Only our third encounter, but a very strong bond between us. When he realized that I was to stay in Taipei, he felt silly. But I liked this nightly visit of his. He brought a package which included a beautiful book of photographs taken on the set of his last film Amphetamine, as well as the CD of the soundtrack. This was so unexpected. We talked until the morning. I strongly feel for him. I don’t know what is happening.

He told me about his next project, a film he wants to write and direct and of course star in. The story, once again is quite dark, but well, Byron is a deep, beautiful soul…

He said he would really like me to write the score for it. No need to tell what my answer was. There’s something powerful about him, maybe his practice of martial arts. His inner strength is amazing.

Now he’s going to stay two weeks in Taipei to promote Amphetamine, do interviews, appear at various events and places. There will be a screening on Monday. We promised to see each other often.

This visit was so unreal to me. When he finally left to get some sleep, I still wondered what had just happened. I was like one of these characters in fairy tales who had are bewildered after the visit of a fairy or a sorcerer.

On the train to the Narita Airport.