A Lean Soul

A Lean Soul examines the life and works of Taiwanese novelist Qi Deng-sheng. The filmmakers were able to obtain in-depth interviews not only with Qi’s closest friends and relatives, but also with the notoriously camera-shy Qi himself. The film also vividly dramatizes many passages from Qi’s intensely autobiographical works of fiction. The result is an intimate and candid portrait of one of the most important and controversial Taiwanese writers of the last fifty years.