The King's Daughters, by Patricia Mazuy, France: A historical drama dealing with religion and humanity. Set in 17th century France, it tells the story of Madame de Maintenon, who, with the help of Louis XIV, created a school for young girls. The girls were educated to become independent women, which leads them to fall into traps set by religion. It is a beautiful but cruel story in which Isabelle Huppert's impressive acting drew attention at Cannes 2000.
Shower (Xizhao,
Monday, by Sabu, Japan: A salaryman wakes up in a posh hotel room, totally clueless about how he got there. Slowly, he recalls what happened the day before -- attending a funeral, dating but annoying his girlfriend, getting drunk in a pub and getting to know a yakuza and his beautiful mistress, having a gun in his hand and...
This witty hybrid of adventure and satire was favorably received at the Berlin Film Festival this year.
Beau Travail, by Claire Denis, France: A riveting adaptation of Herman Melville's Billy Budd. In the strict and regimented life of the French Foreign Legion there is an undercurrent of emotion and eroticism between officers. In this atmosphere, inevitable jealousy turns into murderous hate.
Claire Denis successfully depicts a man's world of morals and rules, while also visualizing the beauty of male bodies. Poetic images and the gradually built up tension create a beautiful cinematic experience. Village Voice regards the film as one of the most important of 1999.
Sex: the Annabel Chong Story, by Gough Lewis, USA: In 1994, a Singapore-born porn star attempted to set a world record by having sex with 300 men over a period of 10 hours. She said she did so to challenge socially accepted female sexuality. She failed to set the record because the 251th man hurt her. The whole process was recorded and made into a documentary. Chong's actions expressed her rebellion against social norms and her middle class upbringing, but is she a fearless feminist or a victim of the sex industry? The film's premiere at Sundance Film Festival polarized the audience.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su